Conceptual aircraft design environment - Case study evaluation of computing architecture technologies

Abstract

Designers need to use a variety of different codes in order to solve today's complex design problems; codes which must all be made to work together. Tools can be developed which facilitate the integration of these varied codes, so that they can be used together to solve a single problem. Using a computational architecture, a procedure has been set up which allows for a complete aerodynamic analysis of a High Speed Civil Transport. The computer architecture serves as a framework within which any number of diverse codes can be linked; data can be exchanged, stored, and otherwise managed; and decisions regarding the design of a vehicle can be made. The use of a computational tool called a Process Element as the method of code implementation allows for the basic analysis procedure to be easily modified and added t o and to be used with higher-level, probabilistic-based design methods. By means of the High Speed Civil Transport aerodynamic analysis example problem described in this paper, t...