Multidisciplinary design optimization of composite wing by parametric modeling

In order to take into account the different requirements in aerodynamic and structural discipline, the optimization of a composite wing design is conducted using multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) method. The geometry model of the wing is generated automatically through a parametric-modeling approach. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) grid is generated automatically from parametric modeling using CATIA and ICEM CFD, followed by automatic flow analysis using FLUENT. The structural finite element analysis (FEA) grid is generated automatically by the parametric methods of CATIA and MSC/Patran. The structure is optimized by MSC/Nastran, and the aerodynamic load is transferred from the CFD grid to the FEA grid using the inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation method. The response surface method is applied for optimization and the optima of the current surrogate model is used to update the sample points. The developed MDO framework is applied to a wing optimization problem, and the optimization design result demonstrates this method could reduce the wing's structural weight.