An Integrated Collaborative Framework for Distributed Multidisciplinary Design Optimization: Application to Alternative Aircraft Propulsion Systems

The design of low-emission alternative-propulsion aircraft requires multidisciplinary collaboration across distributed academic and industrial environments, challenging the applicability of conventional multidisciplinary design analysis and optimization (MDAO) frameworks. This paper presents the Holistic Collaborative MDAO Selection (HCMS) methodology, which provides a structured approach for selecting MDAO architectures based on socio-technical feasibility (intellectual property protection, disciplinary autonomy, and IT governance) and computational feasibility (coupling strength and model fidelity). The methodology supports a transition from centralized to distributed workflows while ensuring secure and efficient cross-organizational integration. The approach is demonstrated through a multi-institutional case study of a dual-fuel (hydrogen and kerosene) business jet using Remote Component Environment (RCE) and Common Parametric Aircraft Configuration Schema (CPACS). Results demonstrate that the proposed methodology enables stable and scalable distributed MDAO execution while explicitly accounting for socio-technical constraints, with consistent convergence behavior and communication overhead (approximately 25 s per iteration) remaining small relative to disciplinary computation time. The case study further illustrates the impact of hydrogen integration, showing an increase in operating empty weight of approximately 14.06% for a 600 NM mission and a reduction in kerosene capacity of approximately 12.9%, while enabling hydrogen-powered operation for the primary mission segment. These findings confirm that the proposed framework effectively supports secure, collaborative MDAO under realistic socio-technical constraints while providing meaningful system-level design insights.