Teaching

This course is an introduction to numerical optimization methods and their application to engineering design. Topics include: gradient-based methods (descent, quasi-Newton), computation of gradients for optimization (finite-difference, complex-step, adjoint methods), gradient-free methods (non-linear simplex, genetic algorithms), approximation methods, architectures for multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO). Both analytic problems and applications to aerodynamics, structures and other aerospace disciplines are explored through computational assignments.

AEROSP 481. Aircraft Design (Fall Semester)

Multidisciplinary integration of aerodynamics, performance, stability and control, propulsion, structures and aeroelasticity in a system approach aimed at designing an aircraft for a set of specifications.  Includes weight estimates, configuration and power plant selection, tail-sizing, maneuver and gust diagrams, wing loading, structural and aeroelastic analysis.  Students work in teams on the design project.