Evaluation of Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of Air Taxi and Classic Design

In recent years, the use of air taxis as a suitable solution for transporting cargo and passengers, has been considered especially in short distances and in the city. One of the most important issues in aerial vehicle design is related to design optimization, which increases the performance in comparison with similar products. Complex systems, such as air taxis, are involved in several subsystems with interacting and sometimes conflicting effects that are difficult to derive the feasible solution with classical methods. Modern optimal design methods such as multidisciplinary design optimization can derive the optimal design while satisfying all the constraints and limitation. In this article, after modeling the different subsystems of an air taxi, multidisciplinary design optimization of an air taxi based on a given mission is discussed. The optimization framework is selected based on AAO by considering structure, aerodynamics, flight mechanics, propulsion and electrical power. Total mass of air taxi is selected as cost function. In addition, performance of gradient and evolutionary optimization algorithms has also been investigated. Finally, the optimal results are compared and evaluated with the results of two classical design methods including "weight estimation" and " sensitivity of design coefficients". The results confirm the improvement of optimal solution with compare of classical methods.