An application of parallel computation to Collaborative Optimization

Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) has evolved as a discipline which provides a body of methods and techniques to assist engineers in solving large scale design problems. There are many frameworks for formulating MDO problems. These frameworks can be broadly classified as single-level or bi-level formulations. Collaborative Optimization (CO) is one of the popular bi-level formulations to solve an MDO problem. There are numerous design optimization problems which are highly CPU time intensive and require a long simulation time. With the advent of cheaper and faster available PC’s, distributed parallel computer clusters have become very popular. These clusters provide large computing power and can be used to solve problems faster and more efficiently. This research is an attempt to take advantage of the computational power of parallel computers in the field of design Optimization. The robust design optimization of an Internal Combustion Engine has been formulated using CO and implemented using parallel computers. Considerable savings in Wall Time has been achieved. A generic strategy for solving similar problems has also been devised. A benchmarking program has also been developed to assess theoretical speedup for any problem size. This program uses the Collaborative Optimization framework and simulates a design optimization on distributed memory clusters

Multiscale Design for Solid Freeform Fabrication

One of the advantages of solid freeform fabrication is the ability to fabricate complex structures on multiple scales, from the macroscale features of an overall part to the mesoscale topology of its internal architecture and even the microstructure or composition of the constituent material. This manufacturing freedom poses the challenge of designing across these scales, especially when a part with designed mesostructure is part of a larger system with changing requirements that propagate across scales. A setbased multiscale design method is presented for coordinating design across scales and reducing iterative redesign of SFF parts and their mesostructures. The method is applied to design a miniature unmanned aerial vehicle system. The system is decomposed into disciplinary subsystems and constituent parts, including wings with honeycomb mesostructures that are topologically tailored for stiffness and strength and fabricated with selective laser sintering. The application illustrates how the design of freeform parts can be coordinated more efficiently with the design of parent systems.Mechanical Engineerin

Integration, management and communication of heterogeneous design resources with WWW technologies

Recently, advanced information technologies have opened new pos-sibilities for collaborative designs. In this paper, a Web-based collaborative de-sign environment is proposed, where heterogeneous design applications can be integrated with a common interface, managed dynamically for publishing and searching, and communicated with each other for integrated multi-objective de-sign. The CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) is employed as an implementation tool to enable integration and communication of design application programs; and the XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is used as a common data descriptive language for data exchange between heterogeneous applications and for resource description and recording. This paper also intro-duces the implementation of the system and the encapsulating issues of existing legacy applications. At last, an example of gear design based on the system is il-lustrated to identify the methods and procedure developed by this research

Active learning based laboratory towards engineering education 4.0

Universities have a relevant and essential key role to ensure knowledge and development of competencies in the current fourth industrial revolution called Industry 4.0. The Industry 4.0 promotes a set of digital technologies to allow the convergence between the information technology and the operation technology towards smarter factories. Under such new framework, multiple initiatives are being carried out worldwide as response of such evolution, particularly, from the engineering education point of view. In this regard, this paper introduces the initiative that is being carried out at the Technical University of Catalonia, Spain, called Industry 4.0 Technologies Laboratory, I4Tech Lab. The I4Tech laboratory represents a technological environment for the academic, research and industrial promotion of related technologies. First, in this work, some of the main aspects considered in the definition of the so called engineering education 4.0 are discussed. Next, the proposed laboratory architecture, objectives as well as considered technologies are explained. Finally, the basis of the proposed academic method supported by an active learning approach is presented.Postprint (published version

AGILE Paradigm: The next generation collaborative MDO for the development of aeronautical systems

The research and innovation EU funded AGILE project has developed the next generation of aircraft Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization (MDO) processes, which target significant reductions in aircraft development costs and time to market, leading to more cost-effective and greener aircraft solutions. 19 industry, research and academia partners from Europe, Canada and Russia have developed solutions to cope with the challenges of collaborative design and optimization of complex aeronautical products. In order to accelerate the deployment of large-scale, collaborative multidisciplinary design and optimization, a novel approach, the so-called “AGILE Paradigm”, has been conceived. The AGILE Paradigm is defined as a “blueprint for MDO”, accelerating the deployment and the operations of collaborative “MDO systems” and enabling the development of complex products practiced by multi-site and cross-organizational design teams, having heterogeneous expertise. A set of technologies has been developed by the AGILE consortium to enable the implementation of the AGILE Paradigm principles, thus delivering not only an abstract formalization of the approach, but also an applicable framework. The collection of all the technologies constitutes the so-called “AGILE Framework”, which has been applied for the design and the optimization of multiple aircraft configurations. The ambition of the AGILE Paradigm was set to reduce the lead time of 40% with respect to the current state-of-the-art. This work reviews the evolution of the MDO systems, underlines the open challenges tackled by the AGILE project, and introduces the main architectural concepts behind the AGILE Paradigm. Thereafter, an overview of the application design cases is presented, focusing of the main challenges and achievements. The AGILE technologies enabled the consortium to formulate and to solve in 15 months 7 MDO applications in parallel for the development of 7 novel aircraft configurations, demonstrating time savings beyond the 40% goal

Design techniques to support aircraft systems development in a collaborative MDO environment

The aircraft design is a complex multidisciplinary and collaborative process. Thousands of disciplinary experts with different design competences are involved within the whole development process. The design disciplines are often in contrast with each other, as their objectives might be not coincident, entailing compromises for the determination of the global optimal solution. Therefore, Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization (MDO) algorithms are being developed to mathematically overcome the divergences among the design disciplines. However, a MDO formulation might identify an optimal solution, but it could be not sufficient to ensure the success of a project. The success of a new project depends on two factors. The first one is relative to the aeronautical product, which has to be compliant with all the capabilities actually demanded by the stakeholders. Furthermore, a “better” airplane may be developed in accordance with customer expectations concerning better performance, lower operating costs and fewer emissions. The second important factor refers to the competitiveness among the new designed product and all the other competitors. The Time-To-Market should be reduced to introduce in the market an innovative product earlier than the other aeronautical industries. Furthermore, development costs should be decreased to maximize profits or to sell the product at a lower price. Finally, the development process must reduce all the risks due to wrong design choices. These two main motivations entail two main objectives of the current dissertation. The first main objective regards the assessment and development of design techniques for the integration of the aircraft subsystems conceptual design discipline within a collaborative and multidisciplinary development methodology. This methodology shall meet all the necessities required to design an optimal and competitive product. The second goal is relative to the employment of the proposed design methodology for the initial development of innovative solutions. As the design process is multidisciplinary, this thesis is focused on the on-board systems discipline, without neglecting the interactions among this discipline with all the other design disciplines. Thus, two kinds of subsystems are treated in the current dissertation. The former deals with hybrid-electric propulsion systems installed aboard Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems (RPASs) and general aviation airplanes. The second case study is centered on More and All Electric on-board system architectures, which are characterized by the removal of the hydraulic and/or pneumatic power generation systems in favor of an enhancement of the electrical system. The proposed design methodology is based on a Systems Engineering approach, according to which all the customer needs and required system functionalities are defined since the earliest phase of the design. The methodology is a five-step process in which several techniques are implemented for the development of a successful product. In Step 1, the design case and the requirements are defined. A Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach is adopted for the derivation and development of all the functionalities effectively required by all the involved stakeholders. All the design disciplines required in the MDO problem are then collected in Step 2. In particular, all the relations among these disciplines – in terms of inputs/outputs – are outlined, in order to facilitate their connection and the setup of the design workflow. As the present thesis is mainly focused on the on-board system design discipline, several algorithms for the preliminary sizing of conventional and innovative subsystems (included the hybrid propulsion system) are presented. In the third step, an MDO problem is outlined, determining objectives, constraints and design variables. Some design problems are analyzed in the present thesis: un-converged and converged Multidisciplinary Design Analysis (MDA), Design Of Experiments (DOE), optimization. In this regard, a new multi-objective optimization method based on the Fuzzy Logic has been developed during the doctoral research. This proposed process would define the “best” aircraft solution negotiating and relaxing some constraints and requirements characterized by a little worth from the user perspective. In Step 4, the formulation of the MDO problem is then transposed into a MDO framework. Two kinds of design frameworks are here considered. The first one is centered on the subsystems design, with the aim of preliminarily highlighting the impacts of this discipline on the entire Overall Aircraft Design (OAD) process and vice-versa. The second framework is distributed, as many disciplinary experts are involved within the design process. In this case, the level of fidelity of the several disciplinary modules is higher than the first framework, but the effort needed to setup the entire workflow is much higher. The proposed methodology ends with the investigation of the design space through the implemented framework, eventually selecting the solution of the design problem (Step 5). The capability of the proposed methodology and design techniques is demonstrated by means of four application cases. The first case study refers to the initial definition of the physical architecture of a hybrid propulsion system based on a set of needs and capabilities demanded by the customer. The second application study is focused on the preliminary sizing of a hybrid-electric propulsion system to be installed on a retrofit version of a well-known general aviation aircraft. In the third case study, the two kinds of MDO framework previously introduced are employed to design conventional, More Electric and All Electric subsystem architectures for a 90-passenger regional jet. The last case study aims at minimizing the aircraft development costs. A Design-To-Cost approach is adopted for the design of a hybrid propulsion system