Publications

The past decades have seen significant advances in the development of tools for the numerical optimization of aircraft wings considering aeroelastic interactions. These aeroelastic optimization tools optimize the structural sizing, and occasionally surface geometry, of a wing, subject to constraints such as structural failure and flutter stability, computed using aeroelastic analyses. The models used by these tools range from simple lifting line and beam models to RANS CFD and shell finite element models, each with their advantages and drawbacks. Recently, the High-Fidelity Aeroelastic Optimization Benchmark Working Group has been formed to bring together practitioners across the field in order to compare their methods on a common set of optimization problems. In this paper, we present solutions to all three benchmark problems using a set of open source codes developed for high-fidelity gradient-based design optimization. In Case 1, we generate a feasible wingbox design under aeroelastic loads, in Case 2 we improve the fuel burn over a nominal mission by 3% by optimizing the wing twist and section shapes along with the structural sizing, and in Case 3 adding planform variables results in a doubling of the wing’s aspect ratio and at 10.1% reduction in fuel burn.