Abstract
The work presented here is an on-going part of the UK Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (DBERR)/Industry funded Integrated Wing programme. In particular within the Configuration Optimisation and Integration sub-task, work funded by DBERR and QinetiQ is focused on assessment of a multi-disciplinary design optimisation (MDO) approach for supporting conceptual design. This approach can potentially satisfy the requirements for general applicability and accuracy through use of high-fidelity, physics-based simulation, but it is essential to demonstrate that the approach represents a practical method which can be automated and fast enough to meet the turn-around times required within conceptual design. In particular it is necessary to identify the level of detail which must be incorporated into MDO to provide a balance between accuracy, generality and speed. In order to help identify this necessary level of detail, a baseline MDO capability has been established which will be incrementally enhanced through improvements to the modelling of specific technologies and systems. The study will also provide an indication of how an aircraft configuration, designed using MDO, changes as a result of the impact of integrating different technologies and systems. This latter outcome supports a key objective for the Integrated Wing programme by potentially helping to identify those technologies and systems which can lead to a step change in performance for future civil aircraft. This paper presents progress towards these goals, including a description of the MDO approach being followed and the integration of additional technologies and systems into the process.