Journal article
Structural Design Optimization of a Tiltrotor Aircraft Composite Wing to Enhance Whirl Flutter Stability
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.
Language: | English |
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Year: | 2013 |
Pages: | 283-294 |
ISSN: | 18791085 and 02638223 |
Types: | Journal article |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.compstruct.2012.08.019 |
ORCIDs: | Kim, Taeseong |