Demonstration of an Multidisciplinary Design Analysis and Optimization (MDAO) Process for Vertical Lift Vehicles

In closing out the MDAO process, an assessment of the environmental impact of a vehicle can now be made in a much more integrated approach.
The final tool chain demonstration goal supporting this Technical Challenge was to design a VTOL aircraft with at least 50% lower emission and 70-80% lower noise than the corresponding baseline vehicle. In 2016, the plan was to develop an acoustic module appropriate for conceptual design vehicle optimization – the module or surrogate was not developed by the completion of this Technical Challenge.  Rather, acoustic optimization was completed using a high-fidelity analysis instead of a surrogate model.  The analysis predicts that the low-emission, low-noise Side By Side vehicle design would produce 60% less emission and is 9.6 dB (67%) quieter than the baseline vehicle