Expanded MDO for Effectiveness Based Design Technologies: The EXPEDITE Program and Successes with ESTECO Technologies

Research conducted in parallel with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL’s) Expanded Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) for Effectiveness Based Design Technologies (EXPEDITE) program is presented. Special consideration is given to detailing the design, components, and execution of a modern aircraft conceptual MDO process within the ESTECO modeFRONTIER® and VOLTA® software products. The optimization formulation, execution and results of this approach to conceptual aircraft design is detailed including the preliminary model incorporating traditional vehicle evaluation metrics utilizing take off gross weight and cost. Further refinements to this model including the initial steps towards an effectiveness-based design (EBD), the use of response surface characterizations for rapid analysis and exploration of the design space are also documented.