A Model-Based System Engineering Approach to Support System Architecting Activities in Early Aircraft Design

The aviation industry aims to reduce its environmental footprint and meet ambitious environmental targets, prompting the exploration of novel aircraft concepts and systems, such as hybrid-electric or distributed propulsion. These emerging technologies introduce complexity to aircraft system architectures, requiring innovative approaches to design, optimization, and safety assessment, particularly for system architecting. Several aspects of system architecting specification and evaluation are typically performed separately, using different people and a mix of manual and model-based processes. Connecting these activities has the potential to make the design process more efficient and effective. This thesis explores how a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) specification environment can be structured and enriched to enable a better bridge to Multidisciplinary Design Analysis and Optimization (MDAO) and Model-Based Safety Assessment (MBSA) activities. The proposed MBSE approach focuses on enhancing system specifications, particularly for unconventional system architectures, which typically feature greater variability in early design stages. Using the ARCADIA/Capella MBSE environment, a multi-level approach is proposed to structure the system architecture specification and the Property Value Management Tool (PVMT) add-on is used to facilitate the bridge to other system architecting activities. In addition, a catalogue of modeling artifacts is established to facilitate the development of various hybrid-electric system configurations. The MDAO link mechanism is demonstrated with an example from the collaborative AGILE4.0 project. Two test cases demonstrate the implementation of the approach: a hybrid-electric propulsion system and associated sub-systems for the overall approach and the landing gear braking system for the model-based Functional Hazard Analysis (FHA), as an example of an MBSA activity. Overall, this thesis helps improve the integration and collaboration between engineers working on MBSE, MDAO, and MBSA. This better integration will help to reduce the development time and risk. Therefore, the presented thesis contributes to a more efficient aircraft development process, enabling the industry to tackle the emerging needs of unconventional aircraft systems and their integration