Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

Optimization Process For Configuration Of Flexible Joined-Wing, Cody C. Rasmussen

Theses and Dissertations

This study established a weight optimized configuration design of a joined-wing sensor-craft. The joined-wing aircraft concept fulfills a proposed long-endurance surveillance mission that contains an antenna structure embedded in the wing skin. The analysis was completed utilizing structural optimization, aerodynamic analyses, and response surface methodology. A sample of 62 joined-wing configurations were weight optimized. Each optimized structure was determined through a change of skin, spar, and rib thickness in the wing box by determining trimmed maneuver and gust conditions for critical flight mission points. Since the joined-wing concept has non-linear deformation characteristics, the structural optimization used both strain and buckling …