Trim and Structural Optimization of Subsonic Transport Wings Using Nonconventional Aeroelastic Tailoring

Abstract

Several minimum-mass aeroelastic optimization problems are solved to evaluate the effectiveness of a variety of novel tailoring schemes for subsonic transport wings. Aeroelastic strength and panel buckling constraints are imposed across several trimmed maneuver loads, in addition to flutter constraints. Tailoring with metallic thickness variations, functionally graded materials, composite laminates, tow steering within composite laminates, and distributed trailing-edge control effectors are all found to provide reductions in structural wing mass with varying degrees of success. The question as to whether this wing mass reduction will offset the increased manufacturing cost is left unresolved for each case.