Jig-Shape Static Aeroelastic Wing Design Problem: A Decoupled Approach

Abstract

A novel approach to the jig-shape static aeroelastic wing design problem is presented in this paper. Unlike previous design efforts where the aerodynamic and structural analyses were coupled throughout the optimization process, this work presents a truly decoupled approach. The proposed approach performs aerodynamic shape optimization in the first phase to determine an optimal configuration, followed by structural shape optimization in the second phase to find the corresponding jig shape. The latter does not require the performance of any new aerodynamic analyses, resulting in true decoupling of the jig-shape aeroelastic wing design problem. This results in significant reduction in computation time making the design of relatively complex wing structures feasible. For this study high-fidelity codes-ANSYS 5.0 for the structural analyses and a supersonic Euler code for the aerodynamic analyses-were used. A modified simulated annealing algorithm was used as the optimizer. Two examples are presented a forebody problem and the design of a high-speed civil transport wing, to demonstrate the efficacy of the methodology.