Overall Parameters Sensitivity Analysis of Solar-Powered Aircraft Based on MDO

This paper aims to establish a multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) framework with the goal of minimizing the take-off weight of solar-powered aircraft to meet the requirement of day and night flying. Considering the design variables and constraints of aerodynamics, structure and energy, the multi-island genetic algorithm (MIGA) is used to complete the design optimization in a given design variables space. The reliability of the optimization framework and the effectiveness of the optimization method are verified by numerical calculation of the optimization results. Based on the MDO framework, the sensitivity analysis of the optimal configuration of solar-powered aircraft under different overall parameters is carried out. The results can provide guidance for the selection of overall parameters at the preliminary design stage of solar-powered aircrafts.