Robust structural and topology optimization for reducing the weight of drones

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The manufacture and operation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, is currently the fastest growing part of the aerospace industry. The applications for UAVs, from search and rescue to infrastructure inspection to aerial photography, are nearly endless. Drone Delivery Canada (DDC), a Canadian company based in Vaughan, Ontario, is designing, building and operating UAVs that carry and deliver small packages. The purpose of this project is to develop new methods of structural optimization, and apply the new methods and more traditional approaches to the design of DDC vehicles. Specifically, algorithms and codes for robust topology optimization will be developed at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS). These will address the key issue of variability in material properties, particularly stiffness and strength. The goal is that small variations in material properties will not have a large deleterious effect on the performance of structures. This is important because 3-D printed materials are often porous and anisotropic: the result is that the material properties vary randomly from location to location within the material. Standard design approaches may result in structures that are satisfactory given the average material properties, but that fail if there are small random variations in critical places. Robust design accounts for this and ensures that the overall performance of a structure is not highly sensitive to variability in material properties. DDC is using 3-D printing extensively, and hence this approach will be of great benefit to their vehicles. As well, the optimization of sub-structures using topology optimization will take place within an overall program of structural optimization that examines all major structural components of current and future DDC vehicles. It is expected that this will result in significant weight reductions, and hence increases in range, payload and flying times.