Master thesis and internship[BR]- Master's thesis : Development of a preliminary aircraft design optimization framework[BR]- Integration internship

Abstract

Traditional aircraft design methods rely on iterative procedures with limited automation and weak couplingbetweendisciplines, resultinginatime-consumingprocessthatcanleadtosuboptimaldesigns. Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) emerges as a powerful alternative to overcome these limitations. This thesis presents the development of RAPTOR (Rapid Aircraft Preliminary Optimization and Refinement), a modular, open-source framework tailored for early-stage aircraft design. RAPTOR addresses the shortcomings of conventional approaches by integrating a fully multidisciplinary opti mization architecture built on top of OpenMDAO, enabling efficient coordination between geometry, aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, stability, weight estimation, and performance evaluation. The frameworksupportsrapidconfigurationandrefinementofbothconventionalandunconventionalaircraft through gradient-based optimization and multi-fidelity analyses. Validation is carried out through benchmark studies and optimization cases, including a tailless unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and a single-seat aerobatic aircraft, illustrating the ability of RAPTOR to handle diverse aircraft configurations.