AACE-AFM-145: Multi-disciplinary Design Optimization of Air Vehicles

There is a definite lack of knowledge and capabilities to design and build next-generation air vehicles to be flown in a ten to twenty years time frame. Current design trends in the aerospace industry give raise to very flexible structures with low frequency modes. The complex interactions between different fields, e.g. structural dynamics, unsteady fluids, aerodynamic effectors, are not well understood. Traditional design approaches are inadequate to address these problems in a realistic manner. The development of new methodologies that are based on a physical formulation and not on empiricisms and the ability to go beyond traditional design paradigms are instrumental to successfully create a unique suite of computational tools that will be adopted by national agencies involved with futuristic concepts. The project will develop a framework for multi-fidelity multi-disciplinary simulations. The framework will consists of a set of tools to perform conceptual design using novel methodologies, optimisation, and fast and accurate assessment for military air vehicles. The successful development of a multi-disciplinary framework depends not only on the ability to provide an interface to existing codes, but also on the algorithms used for each component of the vehicle design and analysis. These will include, among others, specialist codes for handling the geometry, aerodynamics, control, propulsion, structures, and mass and inertia. To overcome the difficulty of choosing the right compromise of costs and accuracy at various stages of the vehicle design and analysis, a hierarchy of modelling techniques are used. The flight conditions will range from subsonic to supersonic, and eventually hypersonic. The advertised project, in particular, aims at creating a software tool that empowers the latest software advances to establish a modular and flexible platform. The ideal candidate should hold a degree in engineering or related disciplines with good insights in aerospace/aeronautical systems. Essential requirements are analytical and numerical skills; demons.

If you wish to discuss any details of the project informally, please contact Dr Andrea Da Ronch, Aerodynamics and Flight Mechanics research group, Email: [Email Address Removed], Tel: +44 (0) 2380 59 4787.