Layout Optimization for Blended Wing Body Aircraft Structure

Abstract

Structural layout design of blended wing body (BWB) aircraft in the preliminary design phase is a challenging optimization problem due to large numbers of design variables and various constraints. A two-loop optimization strategy is proposed to solve the BWB aircraft structural layout design problem considering constraints of the displacement, stress, strain, and buckling. The two-loop optimization consists of an inner loop and an outer loop. The inner loop is to optimize each stiffened panel of the BWB aircraft structure, and outer loop is to find the best layout design. To improve computational efficiency, an equivalent finite element model is applied to BWB aircraft structure analysis, and an analytical method is used for buckling and static analysis of the stiffened panels. The proposed method can efficiently solve the structural layout optimization problem of a notional BWB aircraft with acceptable computational burden. The result indicates the mass of main load-carrying structure of the BWB aircraft is reduced by 9.28% compared to that of the initial structural layout.