The early phases of a new project are the optimal time to perform major changes in the design configuration. The cost of such changes at these stages is minimal while the ability to perform them is high. For this reason, conducting a productive conceptual design phase is very important.
This study presents a method for improving the conceptual design phase at the beginning of a new aircraft project. The method is constructed of a multi-disciplinary design optimization program combined with a suggested work process to enable a more productive conceptual design phase. The optimization program enables to perform initial analysis of many aircraft configurations in order to better understand the design space. The program is given the aircraft requirement set as an input (required speed, required range, …) and performs initial evaluation of various analysis including geometry, aerodynamic, weight, propulsion and performance. The program enables to estimate the value of many aircraft designs and allow the user to better understand the design space before choosing a preferred initial design configuration. With the use of the optimization program and the suggested work process, a user can better define a preferred design configuration to best meet the project requirements. After using the program, the engineering team can initiate the program with a better design that will enable to shorten the iteration process.
