Structural optimization of an underwater glider with blended wing body

This article deals with the mass estimation of an underwater glider with blended wing body subject to multiple constraints including strength, deformation, and stability in order to maximize its payload capacity and long range. Parametric modeling of the blended-wing-body underwater glider structure is implemented using Unigraphics (UG) secondary development. Finite element analysis is carried out to study the structural performance of the underwater glider using the commercial computational structural mechanics code ANSYS. Genetic algorithm based on the double surrogate model global optimization, which including polynomial response surface surrogate model and kriging-based surrogate model, is applied to the structural design optimization. The numerical results show that the optimized structure weight has been reduced by 10.816%, which proves that the optimization process is effective.