Robust Design for Aeroelastically Tailored/Active Aeroelastic Wing

Presented at the 7th AIAA/USAF/NASA/ISSMO Symposium on Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization, St. Louis, MO, September 2-4, 1998.A study of multidisciplinary design concerning the incorporation of aeroelastic tailoring, control surface blending, and active aeroelastic wing concepts is presented. The design process incorporates response surfaces, fast probability integration and modal-basis multidisciplinary design optimization to characterize the design space. The wing box skins of a representative fighter configuration with multiple wing control surfaces are sized to minimum weight. A design of experiments approach is developed for the gear ratios in control surface blending. Design optimization is conducted for each set of gearing functions. The control surface gear ratios are then treated as noise in the structural design process, and a robust structural design is sought to account for the change in control laws that historically occur during the aircraft design process. The motivation for this methodology investigation is derived from the common occurrence of control law changes throughout the lifetime of an aircraft