Abstract
The use of High Altitude and Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is becoming increasingly significant in both military and civil missions as High-Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS). Since this class of aircraft is usually powered by solar cells, it typically features unconventional configurations to maximize sun exposed surfaces. In the present paper, a Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) and a Multi-Objective Optimization (MOO) environment have been developed to provide a computational design tool for modeling and designing these unconventional aircraft in order to achieve as independent objectives the maximization of solar power flux, the maximization of the lift-to-drag ratio, and the minimization of mass. To this purpose, a FEM models generator, capable of managing unconventional geometries, and a solar power estimator, are suitably developed to be integrated within a multi objective optimization loop. The simultaneous use of MDO/MOO approaches, and Design Of Experiment (DOE) creation and updating principles, enables to efficiently take into account the multiple and contrasting objectives/constraints arising from the different disciplines involved in the design problem. The study is carried out by using two different commercial codes for multi-objective optimization and for structural and aeroelastic analyses respectively. The use of advanced MDO/MOO approaches revealed to be effective for designing unconventional vehicles.
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Abbreviations
- DOE:
-
Design Of Experiment
- FEM:
-
Finite Element Method
- HALE:
-
High Altitude Long Endurance
- HAPS:
-
High Altitude Pseudo Satellite
- LCU:
-
Left of the Closest to Utopia point
- MDO:
-
Multidisciplinary Design Optimization
- MOGA:
-
Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm
- MOO:
-
Multi-Objective Optimization
- RCU:
-
Right of the Closest to Utopia point
- RPAS:
-
Remotely Piloted Aerial System
- SOO:
-
Single-Objective Optimization
- UAV:
-
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
- ϕ :
-
Energy flow
- E :
-
Lift-to-Drag ratio
- L :
-
Lift
- C L :
-
Lift coefficient
- D :
-
Drag
- C D :
-
Drag coefficient
- W :
-
Mass Weight
- e :
-
Oswald efficiency number
- v⃗sun :
-
Sun rays energy vector
- n⃗i :
-
Normal to the i-th panel surface area
- S i :
-
i-th panel surface area
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Mastroddi, F., Travaglini, L.M. & Gemma, S. Multi-objective Optimization for the Design of an Unconventional Sun-Powered High-Altitude-Long-Endurance Unmanned Vehicle. Aerotec. Missili Spaz. 97, 68–84 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03405802
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03405802