Application of High-Fidelity Optimization to the Design of Natural Laminar Flow Wings and Hybrid Wing-Body Aircraft

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The aviation sector faces an enormous challenge to reduce its environmental impact, in particular its impact on climate change. In order to achieve this, the energy efficiency of aircraft must be maximized and the dependence on fossil fuels must be rapidly reduced. This collaboration between the University of Toronto and Bombardier concentrates on the former by investigating two approaches to improving the energy efficiency of aircraft. In the first approach, a novel methodology for aerodynamic shape optimization will be applied to the design of swept natural laminar flow wings for flight at transonic speeds. Implementation of such technology has the potential to reduce energy consumption by up to 10%. The second approach is a novel aircraft configuration, the hybrid wing-body configuration, which has the potential to improve energy efficiency by 10-25%, depending on the aircraft class. The hybrid wing-body configuration will be advanced through the application of a multi-fidelity multidisciplinary design optimization framework developed at the University of Toronto. Several issues identified during previous collaborative projects will be addressed, leading to a significant step toward commercialization of the hybrid wing-body configuration.