Variable-Complexity Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Using Parallel Computers

INTRODUCTION The use of multidisciplinary optimization techniques in aerospace vehicle design often is limited because of the significant computational expense incurred in the analysis of the vehicle and its many systems. In response to this difficulty, a variable-complexity modeling approach, involving the use of refined and computationally expensive models together with simple and computationally inexpensive models has been developed [1]. This variable-complexity technique has been previously applied to the combined aerodynamic-structural optimization of subsonic transport aircraft wings and the aerodynamic-structural optimization of the High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) [2]-[4]. In related research conducted by members of the MAD Center at Virginia Tech, convergence difficulties were encountered in the aerodynamic-structural optimization of the HSCT [5]. The convergence problems were traced to numerical noise in the computation of aerodynamic drag components which inhibite