Automated scheme adjustment for conceptual aircraft design and optimization

Conceptual design is the first phase of developing a new aircraft, in which initial concepts must be generated, analyzed, evaluated, and optimized - usually in a short period of time. To improve the quality and efficiency of this phase, many studies have been conducted on the application of artificial intelligence to the conceptual design process. These authors feel that it is infeasible to develop an intelligent design system that is capable of automatically fulfilling all tasks in this phase, whereas it will be more realistic and useful to support designers with intelligent assistance in the layout and optimization process. A key aspect of that is in the revision of design components following or during design optimization, wherein previously generated geometry must be stretched, scaled, or morphed to reflect analytical adjustments. Automated scheme adjustment is proposed to organize these components in a connection net and make the connected ones act as a whole when one of them is changed. This paper presents the measures for constructing the connection net and controlling the process of adjustment. Through interactive modification and multidisciplinary optimization to a business jet concept, the effectiveness of automated scheme adjustment is depicted.