New biomimetic approach to the aircraft wing structural design based on aeroelastic analysis

Abstract

This paper presents a new biomimetic approach to the structural design. For the purpose of aircraft wing design the numerical environment combining simultaneous structural size, shape, and topology optimization based on aeroelastic analysis was developed. For the design of aircraft elements the optimization process must be treated as a multi-load case task, because during the fluid structure interaction analysis each step represents a different structural load case. Also, considering different angles of attack, during the CFD computation each result is considered. The method-specific features (such as domain independence, functional configurations during the process of optimization, and multiple load case solution implemented in the optimization scenario) enable the optimal structural form. To illustrate the algorithm functionality, the problem of determining the optimal internal wing structure was presented. The optimal internal wing structure resulting from aeroelastic computation with different angles of attack has been presented.