Multifidelity Geometry and Analysis in Aircraft Conceptual Design

Abstract

The conceptual and preliminary phases of modern aircraft design processes exhibit a gap in analysis and geometry fidelity. In conceptual design, low-fidelity multidisciplinary tools are generally used with a set of design variables that describe an abstract planform. In preliminary design and beyond, however, higher-fidelity analysis is used to completely design the aircraft components and a three-dimensional solid model becomes desirable. Since the geometric representation drives the selection of design and analysis methods, inconsistent geometry models across design phases leads to a segmented design process. The result is that each phase becomes independent and isolated due to unconnected design methodologies at the geometric level. Without a multifidelity geometry definition, the multidisciplinary results from earlier phases are not strictly transferable to the later analysis of a fully-defined configuration model. In this work, the notion of consistent geometry is presented by driving the model parameterization with multifidelity design variables. This is accomplished by model design procedures that exhibit malleability, robustness, and flexibility compared to conventional model generation methods. By centralizing geometry information into a single master-model definition, multifidelity analyses can extract configuration details from this one source, instead of a set of distinct geometric representations. Our methods are demonstrated using a simplified multifidelity design testbed that considers conceptual design of a commercial aircraft.