Description: Aircraft design is a complex process requiring interactions and exchange of information among multiple disciplines such as aerodynamics, strength, fatigue, controls, propulsion, corrosion, maintenance, and manufacturing. A lot of attention has been paid during the past fifteen years in the Multi-disciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) nature of the aircraft design process. However, a consistent void in aircraft design is the ability to integrate high-fidelity computational capabilities from multiple disciplines within an organized MDO environment. Integrating high fidelity simulation technology (that has been developed over the years though significant investments) within a MDO environment will constitute a disruptive technological development in aircraft design. The ability to replace time consuming solvers with metamodels within the highly iterative environment of an integrated network of optimizations is critical for engaging high fidelity simulation tools in the MDO analysis of complex aircraft systems. Previous work completed by the proposing firm has demonstrated the feasibility of conducting such MDO analysis for an aircraft system, while considering outer mold line shape optimization and structural sizing simultaneously. Since the ability to create metamodels from results obtained at a number of sample points from the actual solvers is the key enabling factor for conducting the multi-discipline optimization analysis, the proposed project will use as foundation the existing metamodeling capability of the proposing firm and will pursue new research that will lead to the development of a powerful stand-alone commercial product for metamodel development. The latter, along with the proposing firm's MDO solver will provide the means for operating an integrated network of optimizations for designing aircraft systems.

Benefits: The marketing effort will target companies and organizations within the aerospace field (NASA, space vehicles, aircraft manufacturers, rotorcraft applications, launch vehicle industries), the shipbuilding, the automotive, the military ground vehicle, and the heavy construction equipment. All of these industries use multi-physics simulation models for assessing the performance of their products during design; and they all have needs for designing products based on economic viability and making the complex design optimization process easy to use. Thus, there is a great market potential for the outcome of this SBIR project.

Aerodynamics, strength, fatigue, controls, propulsion, corrosion, maintenance, and manufacturing concerns are present in aircraft structures, rotorcraft, launch vehicles, and spacecraft. In all of these areas simulations are utilized during design. High fidelity simulation methods have been developed under significant investment in the different disciplines. However they remain rather compartmentalized, and at best only a sequential interaction process is exercised. Therefore engaging available high fidelity simulations within a multi-disciplinary design optimization environment will bring new technology to all NASA groups interested in reducing weight and cost when designing aircraft, launch vehicles, and spacecraft.