Multidisciplinary design optimization of novel and flexible aircraft configurations: design, build, test and fly [MIDAS]

航空运输政策、运营商和飞机制造商都要求更安全、更环保的航空运输系统，并降低开发和运营成本，后者在短期和长期内分别降低20%和50%，这导致了飞机设计范式转变的需要。为此，在过去的五年中，采用新颖的结构、更轻的复合材料来增加有效载荷、节能推进系统和变形控制面来减少阻力已经受到了研究界的广泛关注。一个有趣的中期解决方案是增加机翼展弦比，以减少空气动力学诱导阻力，从而降低燃料消耗和污染物排放。然而，通过设计更细的机翼，机翼结构变得更灵活，在相同的操作条件下容易产生更大的偏转。这种影响可能导致气动伺服弹性性能的变化，从而导致动态不稳定。因此，在设计高展弦比机翼时，考虑几何非线性是非常重要的。从长远来看，新型结构，如翼身混合结构和连接翼结构，有望取代目前的传统设计。在本项目中，提出了一种双管齐下的方法来研究先进飞机设计的许多方面：(i)新的多学科设计优化方法，用于分析和实验评估和验证用于公务机跨声速范围内运行的新型翼身混合结构，以及（ii）用于区域运输机的柔性和非线性高展弦比机翼的气动伺服弹性性能评估。

Air transport policies and operators, and aircraft manufacturers are demanding safer and greener airtransportation systems as well as reduced development and operating costs, the latter by 20% and 50% in theshort and long term, respectively, which has resulted in a need for a paradigm shift in aircraft design. To thisend, the adoption of novel configurations, lighter composites to increase payload, energy efficient propulsionsystems, and morphing control surfaces to reduce drag have received considerable attention in the researchcommunity for the past five years. An interesting mid-term solution is the increase of wing aspect-ratio toreduce the aerodynamic induced drag and thus decrease fuel consumption and pollutant emissions. However,by designing more slender wings, the wing structure becomes more flexible and prone to higher deflectionsunder the same operation conditions. This effect may lead to changes in aeroservoelastic performance, whichmay lead to dynamic instabilities. Hence the importance of taking into account geometric nonlinearities in thedesign of high aspect-ratio wings. Over the long term, novel configurations such as the blended-wing-body andjoined-wing configurations present promising solutions to replace the current conventional designs. In thisproject, a two-pronged approach is proposed to study a number of facets in advanced aircraft design: (i) newmultidisciplinary design optimization methodologies to analyze and experimentally evaluate and validate novelblended-wing-body configurations for operation in the transonic range for business jets, and (ii) theaeroservoelastic performance evaluation of flexible and nonlinear high aspect-ratio wings for regional transportaircraft.