High Fidelity Multi-Component Wing, Pylon, Nacelle and Mounts Industrial MDO Application

Setting up and solving multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) applications is still a challenge for certain industrial applications, despite the advances in methods and tools. A comprehensive MDO study was conducted on a complex multi-component system consisting of a wing, pylon, nacelle, and engine mounts. The goal was to determine the optimal nacelle diameter and engine position under the wing by integrating high-fidelity aerodynamics, structural sizing, and loads analysis. To achieve this, computational fluid dynamics simulations were performed on the nacelle, pylon, and inboard wing, along with structural sizing of the pylon, wing reinforcement, and engine mounts. Additionally, a mid-fidelity aero-elastic model was used to update the loads and account for the impact of stiffness, masses and nacelle diameter changes. Addressing such a challenging case required significant enhancements to the open-source MDO framework GEMSEO, particularly in its platform services. Furthermore, substantial effort was dedicated to integrating distributed workflows. Bi-level MDO formulations played a key role in this application. The consideration of uncertain parameters also enabled the assessment of the robustness of the MDO solution with respect to uncertainties.