Detailed design of a lattice composite fuselage structure by a mixed optimization method

• Published in: Engineering optimization Vol. 48; no. 10; pp. 1707 - 1720
• Main Authors: Liu, D., Lohse-Busch, H., Toropov, V., Hühne, C., Armani, U.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis 02.10.2016; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Aircraft components; aircraft fuselage design; Aircraft industry; Airframes; Design engineering; Design of experiments; Design optimization; Fuselages; Genetic algorithms; lattice structure; Lattices; metamodel; Optimization; parametric optimization; topology optimization
• ISSN: 0305-215X; 1029-0273
• DOI: 10.1080/0305215X.2015.1125262

In this article, a procedure for designing a lattice fuselage barrel is developed. It comprises three stages: first, topology optimization of an aircraft fuselage barrel is performed with respect to weight and structural performance to obtain the conceptual design. The interpretation of the optimal result is given to demonstrate the development of this new lattice airframe concept for the fuselage barrel. Subsequently, parametric optimization of the lattice aircraft fuselage barrel is carried out using genetic algorithms on metamodels generated with genetic programming from a 101-point optimal Latin hypercube design of experiments. The optimal design is achieved in terms of weight savings subject to stability, global stiffness and strain requirements, and then verified by the fine mesh finite element simulation of the lattice fuselage barrel. Finally, a practical design of the composite skin complying with the aircraft industry lay-up rules is presented. It is concluded that the mixed optimization method, combining topology optimization with the global metamodel-based approach, allows the problem to be solved with sufficient accuracy and provides the designers with a wealth of information on the structural behaviour of the novel anisogrid composite fuselage design.