A KBE-enabled design framework for cost/weight optimization study of aircraft composite structures

Traditionally, minimum weight is the objective when optimizing airframe structures. This optimization, however, does not consider the manufacturing cost which actually determines the profit of the airframe manufacturer. To this purpose, a design framework has been developed able to perform cost/weight multi-objective optimization of an aircraft component, including large topology variations of the structural configuration. The key element of the proposed framework is a dedicated knowledge based engineering (KBE) application, called multi-model generator, which enables modelling very different product configurations and variants and extract all data required to feed the weight and cost estimation modules, in a fully automated fashion. The weight estimation method developed in this research work uses Finite Element Analysis to calculate the internal stresses of the structural elements and an analytical composite plate sizing method to determine their minimum required thicknesses. The manufacturing cost esti...