Concurrent trajectory and conceptual vehicle design optimization of an aerobatic air race aircraft

This paper deals with the development of a framework for the concurrent optimization of trajectory and conceptual vehicle design. The tool is applied to the design of an aerobatic air race aircraft that is required to fly a prescribed slalom course consisting of inflatable pylons in the fastest possible time. It is shown that when the aircraft design is tailored to the characteristics of the race track, an improvement in the lap time of about 1 percent can be achieved.