Integration of Probabilistic Methodology in the Aerospace Design Optimization Process

The need of improvements in engineering designs especially with composite materials is nowadays a major request of the aerospace industry. Deterministic approaches are unable to take into account all the variabilities that characterize composites properties without leading to oversized structures. This paper intends to give a description of the most commonly used methods for reliability-based design optimization using the reliability index and the performance measure approaches to point out the advantages of the application of these methods in the design process. For this purpose, a Finite Element model has been created for an industrial composite wing structure and realistic variability has been assigned to material properties and static load conditions. A range of test cases with gradually increasing complexity has then been defined, that allows the assessment of reported methods in terms of accuracy, computation time and applicability in conjunction with Finite Element models. Copyright © 2005 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved.status: publishe