以飞翼布局飞机总体设计为例,展示如何将多学科设计优化(MDO)方法有效地应用于非常规布局飞机总体设计。基于二级优化方法,提出一种飞机总体MDO实施流程。该流程包括系统级优化、子系统级优化(或评估)和多学科模型生成器3个部分。系统级优化的任务是优化全局设计变量,使系统目标最优。子系统级优化涉及的学科包括气动、隐身、结构、总体布置、重量和性能,其任务是调整局部设计变量,满足本学科的设计要求,并使本学科目标最优,或对给定方案进行评估。多学科模型生成器的功能是根据飞机外形几何模型自动生成各学科分析模型,它是实现MDO流程自动化的一个关键环节。根据飞机MDO实施流程,集成各学科的分析模型和优化模型,建立了飞机总体MDO计算环境。应用算例表明:所提出的MDO实施流程能成功解决非常规布局飞机总体设计问题。

This article is aimed at demonstrating how multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) can be effectively applied to the preliminary design of an unconventional configuration aircraft, using the flying wing configuration aircraft as an example. Based on the two-level optimization method, a procedure is proposed for the implementation of MDO of the aircraft preliminary design, which consists of three main parts: system level optimization, subsystem level optimization (or evaluation) and multidisciplinary model generator. The objective of the system level optimization is to obtain overall optimal performance through the adjustment of the global design variables. The subsystem level consists of several disciplines, including aerodynamics, stealth, structure, internal layout, mass and performance. The task of the subsystem level optimization is to optimize the design goal of each discipline under the discipline constraints by the adjustment of local shape design variables. A multidisciplinary model generator is used to generate automatically a model for each disciplinary analysis, and it is one of the key techniques enabling the automation of the MDO process. A computing framework which integrates all the disciplinary analyses and optimization models is established based on the proposed MDO procedure. The application example indicates that the MDO procedure proposed in this article can be applied effectively to the preliminary design of an unconventional configuration aircraft.