A multidisciplinary process for integrated rotorcraft design

摘要

This paper presents a new integrated design process for rotorcraft developed by German Aerospace Center (DLR). The fundamental features of this process are distributed computation on the servers of the different institutes, analysis tools with increasing physical fidelity along the progress of the design process and a high modularity inside the software framework. A reliable data exchange between the tools is provided by an extended version of DLRs Common Parametric Aircraft Configuration Schema. The tools cover the phases of conceptual and largely preliminary design. The design process is initialized by a statistical concept study, providing the first configuration for the following sizing and optimization task. The methods of the tools applied range from blade element theory over vortex panel theory, to finite element methods for structural sizing. The high modularity allows an easy integration of new abilities into the toolbox. The process and design environment presented here are the results of two DLR internal projects carried out by the Institute of Flight Systems, the Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology and the Institute of Structures and Design.