A Paradigm-Shift in Aerospace Vehicle Design Synthesis and Technology Forecasting

ABSTRACTThe early conceptual design (CD) phase of space access vehicles (SAVs) is the most abstract, innovative and technologically challenging phase of the entire aerospace design life cycle. Although the design decision-making during this phase influences around 80 percent of the overall life cycle cost, it is the most abstract and thus least understood phase of the entire design life cycle. The history of SAV design provides numerous examples of project failures that could have been avoided if the decision-maker had had the capability to forecast the potential risks and threats correctly ahead of time during the conceptual design phase. The present study addresses this crucial phase and demonstrates a best-practice synthesis methodology prototype to advance the current state of the art of CD as applied to SAV design. Developed by the Aerospace Vehicle Design (AVD) Laboratory at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), the Aerospace Vehicle Design Synthesis process and software (AVDS) is a prototype solution for a flight vehicle configuration–flexible (generic) design synthesis capability that can be applied to the primary categories of SAVs. This study focusses on introducing AVDS, followed by the demonstration and verification of the system’s capability through a sizing case study based on the data-rich Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane.

Download Full-text

Evolution of generic flight vehicle design synthesis

The Aeronautical Journal ◽

10.1017/s0001924000004036 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 114 (1159) ◽

pp. 549-567 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

B. Chudoba ◽

W. Heinze

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Product Development ◽

Design Space ◽

Product Development Process ◽

Mission Design ◽

Vehicle Design ◽

Flight Vehicle ◽

Next Generation ◽

Design Synthesis ◽

Manufacturing Testing

AbstractWhen defining a new product like an aircraft, space access vehicle or space mission, the Advanced Projects Group evaluates the available design space and compares it with the design space required to accomplish the specified mission. As with any product development process, the general life-cycle characteristics are established first during the conceptual design (CD) phase, clearly before a design proposal can be released to the follow-on design phases such as preliminary design (PD), detail design (DD), flight test (FT), and finally operation and disposal. As a rule of thumb, it can be assumed that around 80% of the flight vehicle configuration and mission tandem are determined during the CD phase alone, which is the key phase where the initial brainstorming has to take place. Clearly, it is the responsibility of the CD team to simulate the entire life-cycle of the project from ‘cradle to grave’ where the focus is on correctness rather accuracy in order to identify the design space and offer an overall proof of design convergence. Currently, the important primary aerospace vehicle and mission design decisions at CD level are still made using extremely simple analysis and heuristics. A reason for this scenario is the difficulty in synthesising the range of individual design disciplines for both, classical and novel aerospace vehicle conceptual designs, in more than anad hocfashion. Although the CD segment is seen as the most important step in the product development phase due to its pre-defining function, it is the least well understood part of the entire product evolution process due to its level of abstraction. This paper presents the roadmap towards the next generation of aerospace life-cycle synthesis systems, a software and management process capable to immediately calculate cost and time implications while simultaneously linking design, manufacturing, testing, and operation. A historical review of how design has been accomplished until today is presented. The design approaches are categorised and the characteristics of today’s state-of-the-art design synthesis systems are discussed. A specification for the new class of intelligent generic design synthesis systems is presented capable of satisfying the demands imposed by the new breed of high-performance aircraft, space access vehicles, space missions, and others. Finally, the development status of the next generation aerospace vehicle design synthesis (AVDS-PrADO) simulation-based acquisition environment is presented.

Download Full-text