On improving efficiency of flight using optimization

In this thesis, optimization is used to improve the performance of aircraft. The focus is on operating current generation aircraft more efficiently rather than designing new aircraft. Drag minimization and aircraft trajectory optimization is used to increase efficiency. Optimization methods are implemented and evaluated on different problem formulations. The first part of the thesis presents a drag minimization strategy using multiple control surfaces distributed across the span of an elastic wing. Aeroelasticity is exploited to reduce drag for a wide range of flight conditions. A method to minimize drag during a long distance flight is developed and tested in a wind tunnel environment. The method is based on continuously changing the control surface deflections to obtain a more beneficial load distribution from a drag point of view for the current flight condition. In a second study, the method is extended to include the angle of attack as a variable together with the control surface deflections in the drag minimization algorithm. Extensive wind tunnel testing demonstrates the possibility to reduce drag significantly with the presented method for a wide range of flight conditions. The second topic in the thesis is optimizing the aircraft trajectory. The emissions from the aircraft engine are modeled as smooth functions suitable for optimization using published certification data. These emissions are combined in different environmental indices and used as objective functions in the aircraft trajectory optimization problem. The optimization problem is formulated by discretizing the trajectory in time. The resulting large scale nonlinear optimization problem is solved using a sequential quadratic programming method. The trajectory optimization problem is first studied using a model of the Boeing 737 and the results show that the optimal trajectory depends significantly on the definition of the environmental objective function. A method to treat restricted airspace is also presented and evaluated using a model of the Swedish Air Force trainer SK60. The results show that the method for imposing airspace constraints on the flight path works well, especially when the initial point for the optimization is feasible. QC 2010072