pyACDT: An Object-Oriented Framework for Aircraft Design Modelling and Multidisciplinary Optimization

We present pyACDT, an object-oriented design framework that facilitates the definition, analysis, and optimization of aircraft concepts. Based on a strong emphasis on object-oriented development, the proposed implementation provides a flexible, efficient and portable architecture where concepts can be rapidly modelled, analyzed on multiple levels of fidelity, and optimized on a monolithic or multi-disciplinary fashion. The architecture top layer is is programmed in Python which allows for the bottom layers a seamless interfacing with codes developed in other programming languages such as C, C++, and Fortran. In this paper we described the development criteria and implementation of pyACDT to provide an scalable, extensible, and reusable framework. This allow designers to focus on the design aspects and the optimization of the aircraft concept they are developing, rather than on the implementation and integration details to accomplished such task.

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