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NASA NTRS2009

Application of Reduced Order Transonic Aerodynamic Influence Coefficient Matrix for Design Optimization

Supporting the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate guidelines, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA] Dryden Flight Research Center is developing a multidisciplinary design, analysis, and optimization [MDAO] tool. This tool will leverage existing tools and practices, and allow the easy integration and adoption of new state-of-the-art software. Today s modern aircraft designs in transonic speed are a challenging task due to the computation time required for the unsteady aeroelastic analysis using a Computational Fluid Dynamics [CFD] code. Design approaches in this speed regime are mainly based on the manual trial and error. Because of the time required for unsteady CFD computations in time-domain, this will considerably slow down the whole design process. These analyses are usually performed repeatedly to optimize the final design. As a result, there is considerable motivation to be able to perform aeroelastic calculations more quickly and inexpensively. This paper will describe the development of unsteady transonic aeroelastic design methodology for design optimization using reduced modeling method and unsteady aerodynamic approximation. The method requires the unsteady transonic aerodynamics be represented in the frequency or Laplace domain. Dynamically linear assumption is used for creating Aerodynamic Influence Coefficient [AIC] matrices in transonic speed regime. Unsteady CFD computations are needed for the important columns of an AIC matrix which corresponded to the primary modes for the flutter. Order reduction techniques, such as Guyan reduction and improved reduction system, are used to reduce the size of problem transonic flutter can be found by the classic methods, such as Rational function approximation, p-k, p, root-locus etc. Such a methodology could be incorporated into MDAO tool for design optimization at a reasonable computational cost. The proposed technique is verified using the Aerostructures Test Wing 2 actually designed, built, and tested at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. The results from the full order model and the approximate reduced order model are analyzed and compared.

Pak, Chan-gi↗

NASA NTRS1993

Methodology for sensitivity analysis, approximate analysis, and design optimization in CFD for multidisciplinary applications

In this study involving advanced fluid flow codes, an incremental iterative formulation (also known as the delta or correction form) together with the well-known spatially-split approximate factorization algorithm, is presented for solving the very large sparse systems of linear equations which are associated with aerodynamic sensitivity analysis. For smaller 2D problems, a direct method can be applied to solve these linear equations in either the standard or the incremental form, in which case the two are equivalent. Iterative methods are needed for larger 2D and future 3D applications, however, because direct methods require much more computer memory than is currently available. Iterative methods for solving these equations in the standard form are generally unsatisfactory due to an ill-conditioning of the coefficient matrix; this problem can be overcome when these equations are cast in the incremental form. These and other benefits are discussed. The methodology is successfully implemented and tested in 2D using an upwind, cell-centered, finite volume formulation applied to the thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations. Results are presented for two sample airfoil problems: (1) subsonic low Reynolds number laminar flow; and (2) transonic high Reynolds number turbulent flow.

Taylor, Arthur C., III↗

NASA NTRS2016

A Robust Method to Integrate End-to-End Mission Architecture Optimization Tools

End-to-end mission simulations include multiple phases of flight. For example, an end-to-end Mars mission simulation may include launch from Earth, interplanetary transit to Mars and entry, descent and landing. Each phase of flight is optimized to meet specified constraints and often depend on and impact subsequent phases. The design and optimization tools and methodologies used to combine different aspects of end-to-end framework and their impact on mission planning are presented. This work focuses on a robust implementation of a Multidisciplinary Design Analysis and Optimization (MDAO) method that offers the flexibility to quickly adapt to changing mission design requirements. Different simulations tailored to the liftoff, ascent, and atmospheric entry phases of a trajectory are integrated and optimized in the MDAO program Isight, which provides the user a graphical interface to link simulation inputs and outputs. This approach provides many advantages to mission planners, as it is easily adapted to different mission scenarios and can improve the understanding of the integrated system performance within a particular mission configuration. A Mars direct entry mission using the Space Launch System (SLS) is presented as a generic end-to-end case study. For the given launch period, the SLS launch performance is traded for improved orbit geometry alignment, resulting in an optimized a net payload that is comparable to that in the SLS Mission Planner's Guide.

Lugo, Rafael↗

NASA NTRS1990

Recent experience with multidisciplinary analysis and optimization in advanced aircraft design

The task of modern aircraft design has always been complicated due to the number of intertwined technical factors from the various engineering disciplines. Furthermore, this complexity has been rapidly increasing by the development of such technologies as aeroelasticity tailored materials and structures, active control systems, integrated propulsion/airframe controls, thrust vectoring, and so on. Successful designs that achieve maximum advantage from these new technologies require a thorough understanding of the physical phenomena and the interactions among these phenomena. A study commissioned by the Aeronautical Sciences and Evaluation Board of the National Research Council has gone so far as to identify technology integration as a new discipline from which many future aeronautical advancements will arise. Regardless of whether one considers integration as a new discipline or not, it is clear to all engineers involved in aircraft design and analysis that better methods are required. In the past, designers conducted parametric studies in which a relatively small number of principal characteristics were varied to determine the effect on design requirements which were themselves often diverse and contradictory. Once a design was chosen, it then passed through the various engineers' disciplines whose principal task was to make the chosen design workable. Working in a limited design space, the discipline expert sometimes improved the concept, but more often than not, the result was in the form of a penalty to make the original concept workable. If an insurmountable problem was encountered, the process began over. Most design systems that attempt to account for disciplinary interactions have large empirical elements and reliance on past experience is a poor guide in obtaining maximum utilizations of new technologies. Further compounding the difficulty of design is that as the aeronautical sciences have matured, the discipline specialist's area of research has generally narrowed as more sophisticated methods are developed in the specialist's area of expertise. The results have been a decrease in the awareness of the impact of his decisions on other disciplines. This paper will outline the progress and problems encountered in the analysis, design, optimization sensitivity analysis, mathematical modeling, and configurations control and the means by which they are being solved. The breadth versus depth dilemma in analysis and design and the means for coping with that dilemma will be discussed. Finally, the all-important human aspects and the need for a new 'culture ' for doing business in an integrated, multidisciplinary design environment are discussed.

Dollyhigh, Samuel M.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Object-Oriented Multi-Disciplinary Design, Analysis, and Optimization Tool

An Object-Oriented Optimization (O3) tool was developed that leverages existing tools and practices, and allows the easy integration and adoption of new state-of-the-art software. At the heart of the O3 tool is the Central Executive Module (CEM), which can integrate disparate software packages in a cross platform network environment so as to quickly perform optimization and design tasks in a cohesive, streamlined manner. This object-oriented framework can integrate the analysis codes for multiple disciplines instead of relying on one code to perform the analysis for all disciplines. The CEM was written in FORTRAN and the script commands for each performance index were submitted through the use of the FORTRAN Call System command. In this CEM, the user chooses an optimization methodology, defines objective and constraint functions from performance indices, and provides starting and side constraints for continuous as well as discrete design variables. The structural analysis modules such as computations of the structural weight, stress, deflection, buckling, and flutter and divergence speeds have been developed and incorporated into the O3 tool to build an object-oriented Multidisciplinary Design, Analysis, and Optimization (MDAO) tool.

Pak, Chan-gi↗

DOE OSTI2021

Challenges, opportunities, and a research roadmap for downwind wind turbines

This study investigates the challenges and opportunities presented by downwind wind turbines and offers a roadmap of future research pathways to maximize their potential. Multidisciplinary design, analysis, and optimization comparison studies between upwind and downwind configurations on a modern 10-MW offshore wind turbine are presented to support the discussion. On one hand, the downwind rotor is found to consistently have a smaller swept area under loading. As a result, the downwind design produces less annual energy production (-1.2%). On the other hand, lighter blades for the downwind configuration lead to lower capital costs (-1.7%), so there is little difference in the levelized cost of energy between the two. Key ultimate and fatigue loads are compared, with some values increasing in the downwind configuration, while others decrease. The impact of a downwind configuration on the tower and the impacts of cone and tilt angles and free-yaw system on the levelized cost of energy are also investigated. The results show a mix of some advantages and disadvantages. Given these results, four areas of research in advanced controls, highly tilted rotors, higher fidelity aerodynamic models, and floating wind are proposed for downwind wind turbines.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

NASA NTRS1989

Advances in computational design and analysis of airbreathing propulsion systems

The development of commercial and military aircraft depends, to a large extent, on engine manufacturers being able to achieve significant increases in propulsion capability through improved component aerodynamics, materials, and structures. The recent history of propulsion has been marked by efforts to develop computational techniques that can speed up the propulsion design process and produce superior designs. The availability of powerful supercomputers, such as the NASA Numerical Aerodynamic Simulator, and the potential for even higher performance offered by parallel computer architectures, have opened the door to the use of multi-dimensional simulations to study complex physical phenomena in propulsion systems that have previously defied analysis or experimental observation. An overview of several NASA Lewis research efforts is provided that are contributing toward the long-range goal of a numerical test-cell for the integrated, multidisciplinary design, analysis, and optimization of propulsion systems. Specific examples in Internal Computational Fluid Mechanics, Computational Structural Mechanics, Computational Materials Science, and High Performance Computing are cited and described in terms of current capabilities, technical challenges, and future research directions.

Klineberg, John M.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Advances in computational design and analysis of airbreathing propulsion systems

Klineberg, John M.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Application of advanced multidisciplinary analysis and optimization methods to vehicle design synthesis

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Consoli, Robert D.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Methodology for sensitivity analysis, approximate analysis, and design optimization in CFD for multidisciplinary applications

The straightforward automatic-differentiation and the hand-differentiated incremental iterative methods are interwoven to produce a hybrid scheme that captures some of the strengths of each strategy. With this compromise, discrete aerodynamic sensitivity derivatives are calculated with the efficient incremental iterative solution algorithm of the original flow code. Moreover, the principal advantage of automatic differentiation is retained (i.e., all complicated source code for the derivative calculations is constructed quickly with accuracy). The basic equations for second-order sensitivity derivatives are presented; four methods are compared. Each scheme requires that large systems are solved first for the first-order derivatives and, in all but one method, for the first-order adjoint variables. Of these latter three schemes, two require no solutions of large systems thereafter. For the other two for which additional systems are solved, the equations and solution procedures are analogous to those for the first order derivatives. From a practical viewpoint, implementation of the second-order methods is feasible only with software tools such as automatic differentiation, because of the extreme complexity and large number of terms. First- and second-order sensitivities are calculated accurately for two airfoil problems, including a turbulent flow example; both geometric-shape and flow-condition design variables are considered. Several methods are tested; results are compared on the basis of accuracy, computational time, and computer memory. For first-order derivatives, the hybrid incremental iterative scheme obtained with automatic differentiation is competitive with the best hand-differentiated method; for six independent variables, it is at least two to four times faster than central finite differences and requires only 60 percent more memory than the original code; the performance is expected to improve further in the future.

Taylor, Arthur C., III↗

NASA NTRS2009

NDARC NASA Design and Analysis of Rotorcraft

The NASA Design and Analysis of Rotorcraft (NDARC) software is an aircraft system analysis tool intended to support both conceptual design efforts and technology impact assessments. The principal tasks are to design (or size) a rotorcraft to meet specified requirements, including vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) operation, and then analyze the performance of the aircraft for a set of conditions. For broad and lasting utility, it is important that the code have the capability to model general rotorcraft configurations, and estimate the performance and weights of advanced rotor concepts. The architecture of the NDARC code accommodates configuration flexibility; a hierarchy of models; and ultimately multidisciplinary design, analysis, and optimization. Initially the software is implemented with lowfidelity models, typically appropriate for the conceptual design environment. An NDARC job consists of one or more cases, each case optionally performing design and analysis tasks. The design task involves sizing the rotorcraft to satisfy specified design conditions and missions. The analysis tasks can include off-design mission performance calculation, flight performance calculation for point operating conditions, and generation of subsystem or component performance maps. For analysis tasks, the aircraft description can come from the sizing task, from a previous case or a previous NDARC job, or be independently generated (typically the description of an existing aircraft). The aircraft consists of a set of components, including fuselage, rotors, wings, tails, and propulsion. For each component, attributes such as performance, drag, and weight can be calculated; and the aircraft attributes are obtained from the sum of the component attributes. Description and analysis of conventional rotorcraft configurations is facilitated, while retaining the capability to model novel and advanced concepts. Specific rotorcraft configurations considered are single main-rotor and tailrotor helicopter; tandem helicopter; coaxial helicopter; and tiltrotors. The architecture of the code accommodates addition of new or higher-fidelity attribute models for a component, as well as addition of new components.

Johnson, Wayne R.↗

NASA NTRS2010

NDARC-NASA Design and Analysis of Rotorcraft Theoretical Basis and Architecture

The theoretical basis and architecture of the conceptual design tool NDARC (NASA Design and Analysis of Rotorcraft) are described. The principal tasks of NDARC are to design (or size) a rotorcraft to satisfy specified design conditions and missions, and then analyze the performance of the aircraft for a set of off-design missions and point operating conditions. The aircraft consists of a set of components, including fuselage, rotors, wings, tails, and propulsion. For each component, attributes such as performance, drag, and weight can be calculated. The aircraft attributes are obtained from the sum of the component attributes. NDARC provides a capability to model general rotorcraft configurations, and estimate the performance and attributes of advanced rotor concepts. The software has been implemented with low-fidelity models, typical of the conceptual design environment. Incorporation of higher-fidelity models will be possible, as the architecture of the code accommodates configuration flexibility, a hierarchy of models, and ultimately multidisciplinary design, analysis and optimization.

Johnson, Wayne↗

NASA NTRS2012

A Standard Platform for Testing and Comparison of MDAO Architectures

The Multidisciplinary Design Analysis and Optimization (MDAO) community has developed a multitude of algorithms and techniques, called architectures, for performing optimizations on complex engineering systems which involve coupling between multiple discipline analyses. These architectures seek to efficiently handle optimizations with computationally expensive analyses including multiple disciplines. We propose a new testing procedure that can provide a quantitative and qualitative means of comparison among architectures. The proposed test procedure is implemented within the open source framework, OpenMDAO, and comparative results are presented for five well-known architectures: MDF, IDF, CO, BLISS, and BLISS-2000. We also demonstrate how using open source soft- ware development methods can allow the MDAO community to submit new problems and architectures to keep the test suite relevant.

Gray, Justin S.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Multidisciplinary Modeling Software for Analysis, Design, and Optimization of HRRLS Vehicles

The concept for Highly Reliable Reusable Launch Systems (HRRLS) under the NASA Hypersonics project is a two-stage-to-orbit, horizontal-take-off / horizontal-landing, (HTHL) architecture with an air-breathing first stage. The first stage vehicle is a slender body with an air-breathing propulsion system that is highly integrated with the airframe. The light weight slender body will deflect significantly during flight. This global deflection affects the flow over the vehicle and into the engine and thus the loads and moments on the vehicle. High-fidelity multi-disciplinary analyses that accounts for these fluid-structures-thermal interactions are required to accurately predict the vehicle loads and resultant response. These predictions of vehicle response to multi physics loads, calculated with fluid-structural-thermal interaction, are required in order to optimize the vehicle design over its full operating range. This contract with ResearchSouth addresses one of the primary objectives of the Vehicle Technology Integration (VTI) discipline: the development of high-fidelity multi-disciplinary analysis and optimization methods and tools for HRRLS vehicles. The primary goal of this effort is the development of an integrated software system that can be used for full-vehicle optimization. This goal was accomplished by: 1) integrating the master code, FEMAP, into the multidiscipline software network to direct the coupling to assure accurate fluid-structure-thermal interaction solutions; 2) loosely-coupling the Euler flow solver FEFLO to the available and proven aeroelasticity and large deformation (FEAP) code; 3) providing a coupled Euler-boundary layer capability for rapid viscous flow simulation; 4) developing and implementing improved Euler/RANS algorithms into the FEFLO CFD code to provide accurate shock capturing, skin friction, and heat-transfer predictions for HRRLS vehicles in hypersonic flow, 5) performing a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes computation on an HRRLS configuration; 6) integrating the RANS solver with the FEAP code for coupled fluid-structure-thermal capability; and 7) integrating the existing NASA SRGULL propulsion flow path prediction software with the FEFLO software for quasi-3D propulsion flow path predictions, 8) improving and integrating into the network, an existing adjoint-based design optimization code.

Spradley, Lawrence W.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Integrated System Modeling for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP)

Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) has long been identified as a key enabling technology for space exploration beyond LEO. From Wernher Von Braun's early concepts for crewed missions to the Moon and Mars to the current Mars Design Reference Architecture (DRA) 5.0 and recent lunar and asteroid mission studies, the high thrust and specific impulse of NTP opens up possibilities such as reusability that are just not feasible with competing approaches. Although NTP technology was proven in the Rover / NERVA projects in the early days of the space program, an integrated spacecraft using NTP has never been developed. Such a spacecraft presents a challenging multidisciplinary systems integration problem. The disciplines that must come together include not only nuclear propulsion and power, but also thermal management, power, structures, orbital dynamics, etc. Some of this integration logic was incorporated into a vehicle sizing code developed at NASA's Glenn Research Center (GRC) in the early 1990s called MOMMA, and later into an Excel-based tool called SIZER. Recently, a team at GRC has developed an open source framework for solving Multidisciplinary Design, Analysis and Optimization (MDAO) problems called OpenMDAO. A modeling approach is presented that builds on previous work in NTP vehicle sizing and mission analysis by making use of the OpenMDAO framework to enable modular and reconfigurable representations of various NTP vehicle configurations and mission scenarios. This approach is currently applied to vehicle sizing, but is extensible to optimization of vehicle and mission designs. The key features of the code will be discussed and examples of NTP transfer vehicles and candidate missions will be presented.

Systems Engineering↗

NASA NTRS2014

Design Environment for Multifidelity and Multidisciplinary Components

One of the greatest challenges when developing propulsion systems is predicting the interacting effects between the fluid loads, thermal loads, and structural deflection. The interactions between technical disciplines often are not fully analyzed, and the analysis in one discipline often uses a simplified representation of other disciplines as an input or boundary condition. For example, the fluid forces in an engine generate static and dynamic rotor deflection, but the forces themselves are dependent on the rotor position and its orbit. It is important to consider the interaction between the physical phenomena where the outcome of each analysis is heavily dependent on the inputs (e.g., changes in flow due to deflection, changes in deflection due to fluid forces). A rigid design process also lacks the flexibility to employ multiple levels of fidelity in the analysis of each of the components. This project developed and validated an innovative design environment that has the flexibility to simultaneously analyze multiple disciplines and multiple components with multiple levels of model fidelity. Using NASA's open-source multidisciplinary design analysis and optimization (OpenMDAO) framework, this multifaceted system will provide substantially superior capabilities to current design tools.

Platt, Michael↗

NASA NTRS2015

NDARC - NASA Design and Analysis of Rotorcraft

The NASA Design and Analysis of Rotorcraft (NDARC) software is an aircraft system analysis tool that supports both conceptual design efforts and technology impact assessments. The principal tasks are to design (or size) a rotorcraft to meet specified requirements, including vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) operation, and then analyze the performance of the aircraft for a set of conditions. For broad and lasting utility, it is important that the code have the capability to model general rotorcraft configurations, and estimate the performance and weights of advanced rotor concepts. The architecture of the NDARC code accommodates configuration flexibility, a hierarchy of models, and ultimately multidisciplinary design, analysis, and optimization. Initially the software is implemented with low-fidelity models, typically appropriate for the conceptual design environment. An NDARC job consists of one or more cases, each case optionally performing design and analysis tasks. The design task involves sizing the rotorcraft to satisfy specified design conditions and missions. The analysis tasks can include off-design mission performance calculation, flight performance calculation for point operating conditions, and generation of subsystem or component performance maps. For analysis tasks, the aircraft description can come from the sizing task, from a previous case or a previous NDARC job, or be independently generated (typically the description of an existing aircraft). The aircraft consists of a set of components, including fuselage, rotors, wings, tails, and propulsion. For each component, attributes such as performance, drag, and weight can be calculated; and the aircraft attributes are obtained from the sum of the component attributes. Description and analysis of conventional rotorcraft configurations is facilitated, while retaining the capability to model novel and advanced concepts. Specific rotorcraft configurations considered are single-main-rotor and tail-rotor helicopter, tandem helicopter, coaxial helicopter, and tiltrotor. The architecture of the code accommodates addition of new or higher-fidelity attribute models for a component, as well as addition of new components.

Analysis↗

NASA NTRS2016

NASA Systems Engineering Research Consortium: Defining the Path to Elegance in Systems

The NASA Systems Engineering Research Consortium was formed at the end of 2010 to study the approaches to producing elegant systems on a consistent basis. This has been a transformative study looking at the engineering and organizational basis of systems engineering. The consortium has engaged in a variety of research topics to determine the path to elegant systems. In the second year of the consortium, a systems engineering framework emerged which structured the approach to systems engineering and guided our research. This led in the third year to set of systems engineering postulates that the consortium is continuing to refine. The consortium has conducted several research projects that have contributed significantly to the understanding of systems engineering. The consortium has surveyed the application of the NASA 17 systems engineering processes, explored the physics and statistics of systems integration, and considered organizational aspects of systems engineering discipline integration. The systems integration methods have included system exergy analysis, Akaike Information Criteria (AIC), State Variable Analysis, Multidisciplinary Coupling Analysis (MCA), Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO), System Cost Modelling, System Robustness, and Value Modelling. Organizational studies have included the variability of processes in change evaluations, margin management within the organization, information theory of board structures, social categorization of unintended consequences, and initial looks at applying cognitive science to systems engineering. Consortium members have also studied the bidirectional influence of policy and law with systems engineering.

Watson, Michael D.↗