Aero-Structural Optimization of Joined-Wing Aircraft

Joined-wing aircraft due to its energy characteristics is a suitable configuration for electric aircraft when designed properly. However, because of the specific for this aircraft phenomenons (e.g. static indeterminacy of structure, aerodynamic interference of lifting surfaces) it demands more complicated methods to model its behavior than a traditional aircraft configurations. For these reasons the aero-structural optimization process is proposed for joined-wing aircrafts that is suitable for preliminary design. The process is a global search, modular algorithm based on automatic geometry generator, FEM solver and aerodynamic panel method. The range of aircraft was assumed as an objective function. The algorithm was successfully tested on UAV aircraft. The improvement of 19% of total aircraft range is achieved in comparison to baseline aircraft. Time of evaluation of this global search algorithm is similar to the time characteristic for local optimization methods. It allows to reduce the time and costs of preliminary design of joined-wing.