Publications

Many urban air mobility vehicle designs feature propellers integrated with fuselage, wings, and other appendages. These vehicle designs are based on complex configurations with novel propulsion systems and flight technology. The tightly coupled nature of the systems in these vehicles and the novel technologies within them create opportunities for vehicle analysis and optimization. Furthermore, the geometries being developed are unique, utilizing advanced materials for integral components. Aerodynamic, structural, and acoustic analysis and optimization can provide insight into their performance, and how the propellers, structures, and lifting surfaces can be designed to further improve vehicle efficiency considering operational constraints. This work details an aero-structural-acoustic optimization toolchain built with the MACH and OpenMDAO tools, embedded within the modeling and optimization framework called MPhys. This analysis and optimization framework utilizes multiple model fidelities, including hybrid blade element momentum theory, computational fluid dynamics, finite-element modeling, and an aeroacoustic analogy. With this toolchain, this work presents gradient-based aero-structural-acoustic optimization, minimizing required flight power while ensuring structural integrity and respecting acoustic considerations. The toolchain is applied to the NASA tiltwing concept vehicle to optimize the wing and propeller designs, yielding a 17.8% reduction in required power for cruise flight while considering aerodynamic, structural, and acoustic constraints. This aero-structural-acoustic optimization framework can help make vehicle designs more efficient, lighter, and quieter.