WUADS – A Model Based Conceptual Design Tool for the Development of Efficient Commercial Aircraft

This paper details the development and implementation of an aircraft design tool known as the Washington University Aircraft Design System (WUADS). WUADS was developed as a model-based conceptual design code in Python as a part of an ongoing project for the design of highly efficient, zero emission commercial airliners. The code employs a combination of empirical models to estimate the input aircraft’s weight, parasite drag, propulsive performance, etc. as well as a vortex lattice method based solver to estimate the overall aerodynamic performance. By analyzing the aircraft’s performance at several different points across a mission profile, WUADS is able to calculate important performance metrics such as the maximum range, fuel efficiency, stability derivatives, takeoff performance, and more. Using these methods, WUADS is then able to apply the optimization algorithms such as Bayesian optimization to geometrically optimize the input aircraft. This paper provides details of the empirical and numerical estimations methods used in WUADS as well as a number of validation test cases for aircraft of various sizes.