Flight Dynamics and Control Multidisciplinary Integration in Aircraft Conceptual Design Optimization

This paper describes the integration of flight dynamics and control in an aircraft conceptual design process, using a modified Collaborative Optimization methodology. Control design and handling quality evaluations are performed concurrently with oth er disciplinary analysis. This provides the freedom of configuration change at an early conceptual stage. A commercial aircraft design example demonstrates that the proposed integration achieves better aircraft configurations than those obtain from a tradi tional process.