Structural Design Optimization of a Tiltrotor Aircraft Composite Wing to Enhance Whirl Flutter Stability
- Authors:
- DOI:
- 10.1016/j.compstruct.2012.08.019
- Abstract:
- In order to enhance the aeroelastic stability of a tiltrotor aircraft, a structural optimization framework is developed by applying a multi-level optimization approach. Each optimization level is designed to achieve a different purpose; therefore, relevant optimization schemes are selected for each level. Enhancement of the aeroelastic stability is selected as an objective in the upper-level optimization. This is achieved by seeking the optimal structural properties of a composite wing, including its mass, vertical, chordwise, and torsional stiffness. In the upper-level optimization, the response surface method (RSM), is selected. On the other hand, lower-level optimization seeks to determine the local detailed cross-sectional parameters, such as the ply orientation angles and ply thickness, which are relevant to the wing structural properties obtained at the upper-level. To avoid manufacturing difficulties, only a few discrete ply orientation angles and an integral number of plies are considered as constraints. A genetic algorithm is selected as the optimizer at the lower-level. Use of the upper-level optimization causes a 13-18% increase in the flutter speed when compared to the baseline configuration. In the lower-level optimization, the optimization results were obtained considering the resulting failure margin and the location of the shear center.
- Type:
- Journal article
- Language:
- English
- Published in:
- Composite Structures, 2013, Vol 95
- Keywords:
- Multi-level optimization; Response surface method; Tiltrotor aircraft; Whirl flutter analysis; Composite wing
- Main Research Area:
- Science/technology
- Publication Status:
- Published
- Review type:
- Peer Review
- Submission year:
- 2013
- Scientific Level:
- Scientific
- ID:
- 232095988
