Digital Aeronautical Design Lab by Example of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Aircraft Type)

This article presents the main concepts of a digital aeronautical design lab (DADLAB), that has been elaborated as a state-of-the-art tool for creating new aeronautical products. The main target is to reduce time and cost by replacing expensive experiments with a set of digital high-fidelity computational models. DADLAB consists of some basic computational blocks: aerodynamic, trajectory, engine, structural, geometry and launching. Each of them solves its own special task. The aerodynamic block determines aerodynamic coefficients as a set of explicit functions of velocities and kinematic angles with the use of commercial CFD-code. Trajectory block analyzes aircraft performance by solving equations of motion in six degrees of freedom applying numerical methods in Python 3. The engine block determines fuel consumption curves and high-altitude characteristics of engines. Static and dynamic strength and stiffness are analyzed in the structural block by finite element method in commercial codes. Properties of launch equipment which provides the necessary start parameters are determined in thelaunching block. In geometry block user can change aerodynamic profile and basic equipment placement or other structural information about considered sample which can potentially influence on the aircraft's characteristics. Blocks interact with each otherby exchanging data. User can change input constructive parameters in any block to perform aircraft's requirements. The semi-automatic concept and data exchange process significantly makes easier the design process. The main capabilities of DADLAB have been tested with some confirmed results