Wing aerodynamic optimization method for aircraft family design

The aircraft family is a set of aircraft for sharing the common sub-systems or common components while meeting different performances or operational requirements. The use of modularity and commonality is an advanced methodology for designing the aircraft family. An optimization method with two levels is proposed for the aerodynamic design of the aircraft family. The detail procedure and features of the optimization method are presented by using design of a regional aircraft family as an example. The optimization procedure is divided into two levels: optimization for common components and optimization for individual components. The optimization method has advantages of reducing number of design variables and constraints, and facilitating the parallel design due to possessing independence between the optimization of individual components. Results indicate that the method can solve the aerodynamic optimization problem of the wing design of regional aircraft family and simultaneously optimize the aerodynamic performances for each type or model in the aircraft family.