Multidisciplinary Design & Optimization models and software tool for hypersonic flight vehicle

The interdisciplinary tight-coupled aspect of air-breathing Hypersonic Flight Vehicle (HFV) necessitates truly Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization (MDO). In this research, MDO problem of a typical scramjet-based HFV configuration was investigated. Six critical disciplines including Geometry, Aerodynamics, Propulsion, Trajectory, Structure, and Thermal Protection System (TPS), were considered. Disciplinary analysis models of middle fidelity were constructed. From the viewpoint of system engineering, MDO models of HFV were created. By introducing the conceptions of "Shared variable", "Coupled variable", "Common Constraints", "Conflict Constraints", "Common Objectives" and "Conflict objectives", the multidisciplinary optimization model of HFV was formulated based on the design description of each discipline. By mapping interface of disciplines, Multi-Disciplinary Analysis (MDA) model was created. To support this MDO process, a CAD-based software tool named MDOT-HFV was developed, which is composed of five components: (a) Parametric Geometry Modeling (PGM) module; (b) Disciplinary analysis codes, corresponding to each discipline; (c) Integration Module (IM) and Data Management Module (DMM), which controls interaction between analysis codes and PGM; (d) Graphical User Interfaces (GUI); (e) Optimization algorithm library. Init test example shows that after optimization, the performance of HFV can be improved about 10%.