With Multidisciplinary Design Analysis and Optimization (MDAO) a fully automated aircraft design analysis is set up and optimization algorithms are used to obtain better designs by balancing the synergy between components. In the EU project AGILE, a new methodology and framework were developed to make the MDAO approach more accessible to industry. A key component of this framework is the KADMOS package. KADMOS is used to formulate large, heterogeneous MDAO problems and their execution process before they are implemented as executable workflows. This thesis focuses on the automation of a key step in the problem formulation for MDAO systems: the execution process definition, i.e. the order and grouping of the disciplines. Several sequencing and decomposition algorithms are developed to optimize the execution order of the disciplines and their division over multiple processors for parallel execution. The algorithms are verified and validated on thousands of MDAO systems using a scalable mathematical test case. Furthermore, the conceptual design of a conventional aircraft is performed using a novel implementation of the Initiator toolbox in KADMOS to test the algorithms in a realistic aircraft design problem. This showed that the algorithms resulted in a setup time reduction due to the automation of the execution process formulation and a reduced convergence time thanks to the improved usage of computational resources. ... Read more

This report is the final report in a series of four reports that deals with the design of an advanced regional aircraft. The first step in the design is to determine the overall configuration of the ARA. By identifying the feasible configurations based on a literature study and performing a trade-o_, the conventional low wing with GTF engines underneath the wings configuration is found to be the optimal configuration for the ARA. After selecting the aircraft configuration, the preliminary subsystem design is initiated. Class I and II weight estimations are performed and a MTOW of 34500kg is determined. The selected wing planform is a two-piece complex sweptback planform with a wing area of 105m2 and a wing span of 30.7m. The thrust will be provided by two PW1217G GTFs with a maximum thrust of 76kN each. For the fuselage design, several configuration options are analysed taking into account structural and aerodynamic considerations. A trade-o_ is performed and the 4 abreast configuration with cargo in the tail is found to be the best choice. The tricycle configuration is chosen for the landing gear. The main gear is positioned 17.1m from the nose, while the nose gear is positioned 3.6m from the nose. The control surfaces comprising ailerons, spoilerons, elevators and rudder, are sized for extreme load cases. For roll control at low speeds outboard ailerons are used and spoilerons are used for roll control at high speeds. The elevators are sized to meet take-o_ and trim requirements. The rudder is sized to counteract the yawing moment with one-engine inoperative. Furthermore, the high-lift devices are sized. It is found that in order to fulfill landing and take-o_ requirements double-slotted Fowler flaps are required... ... Read more