Abstract: The traditional approaches to conceptual/preliminary design optimization of aircraft were reviewed. The applications of multidisciplinary optimization methods to aircraft design and their recent developments were presented. Emphases were laid upon the design of experiment and the response surface approximation, which are used to deal with the problem with overabundant design variables and with extreme computational expense. The robust design methodology for the multidisciplinary optimization with uncertainty was also stressed. Some critical research fields including the integrated optimization of aerodynamics structure, aerodynamics stealth, structure active control, etc. have been put forward. Finally, a prospect is given for the potential application of multidisciplinary optimization to the conceptual/preliminary design of aircraft.

Key words: air plane, multidisciplinary optimization, design of exper iment, response surface approximation, uncer tainty, r obust design