Rapid Airplane Parametric Input Design

(RAPID) 
Robert E. Smithy
Malcolm I. G. Bloorz
Michael J. Wilsonx
Almuttil M. Thomas{

ABSTRACT

NOMENCLATURE

An ecient methodology is presented for dening a

class of airplane congurations. Inclusive in this denition are surface grids, volume grids, and grid sensitivity. A small set of design parameters and grid control parameters govern the process. The general airplane conguration has wing, fuselage, vertical tail,
horizontal tail, and canard components. The wing,
tail, and canard components are manifested by solving a fourth-order partial dierential equation subject
to Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. The
design variables are incorporated into the boundary
conditions, and the solution is expressed as a Fourier
series. The fuselage has circular cross section, and
the radius is an algebraic function of four design parameters and an independent computational variable.
Volume grids are obtained through an application of
the Control Point Form method. Grid sensitivity is
obtained by applying the automatic dierentiation
precompiler ADIFOR to software for the grid generation. The computed surface grids, volume grids, and
sensitivity derivatives are suitable for a wide range of
Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation and conguration optimizations.

A
B
D
N
X
Xsurf
Xvol
a
b

Bt
Bw
Bc
C
E
F1; F2
H1
H2
K1 ; K2
K3 ; K4
M
P
RF
R0; R1
R2
S1 ; S2
T
Ta
Xt ; Zt
Xw ; Zw
Xc ; Zc
a
r
x
y
yc
yt


 This paper is declared a work of the U. S. Government and

is not subjected to copyright protection in the United States.
y Senior Research Engineer , NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton Virginia 23681-0001, Associate Fellow, AIAA.
z Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics Studies,
University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
x Senior Lecturer, Department of Applied Mathematics
Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
{ Graduate Assistant, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia 23529-0247.






Vector Fourier coecients

Vector Fourier coecients
Vector Dirichlet boundary conditions
Vector Neumann boundary conditions
Surface coordinate
Surface grid
Volume grid
Vector constant for Fourier expression
Vector constant for Fourier expression
Root chord length for tail components
Root chord length for wing component
Root chord length for canard component
Wing chord length at crank
Wingtip chord length
Parameters for airfoil denition
Inboard wing span length
Outboard wing span length
Constants for grid spacing control
Constants for grid spacing control
Maximum wing camber
Location of maximum wing camber
Fuselage length
Parameters for fuselage radius
Parameter for radius at rearmost point
Derivative control design parameters
Maximum wing thickness
Wing taper parameter
Coordinates of trailing tip point
Coordinates of trailing wing point
Coordinates of trailing crank point
PDE weighting factor
Fuselage radius
Airfoil independent variable
Airfoil dependent variable
Wing camber
Wing thickness
Coordinate weighting parameter

; ; 
 ; ; 




 

P
K

Indices
I
J
K
n

Computational coordinates
Computational coordinates
Grid spacing control coordinate
Grid spacing control coordinate
Fuselage denition variable
Set of design parameters
Set of grid control parameters

sensitivity for automated analysis (both low-level and

high-level) and optimization. As the geometry becomes detailed, it is imperative that a CAD model,
with its general characteristics be developed, and any
parameter-dened model should be upgraded with a
conventional CAD system. Alternately, it would be
desirable to incorporate a methodology like the one
described here in a conventional CAD system.

point
point
point
Index for Fourier series

ith
jth
kth

Creating an airplane surface or any other object

surface with design parameters implies that there is
an underlining set of rules or correspondences (model
functions) that are driven by the parameters and independent computational variables. Surfaces grids
are discrete evaluations of the surface functions, and
surface grids can be described as organized sets of
points. Dierent discipline analyses and dierent
techniques within a discipline most often require different grids to be generated from the surface model4.

1. INTRODUCTION

Airplane design has historically been divided into

three phases: (1) conceptual design; (2) preliminary
design; and (3) detailed design1;2;3. The conceptual
design of an airplane usually begins with specications for a proposed mission and rough sketches of
the conguration. Geometry begins to evolve in the
form of sets of connected points. Usually only the
minimal amount of information for low-level analyses
is created. As a conguration approaches the end of
the conceptual design phase, Computer-Aided Design
(CAD) models are created. CAD models are most often derived by interpolating and rening the earlier
specied sets of connecting points used in low-level
analyses.

High level aerodynamic analysis, such as Euler or

Navier-Stokes simulation, require that volume grids
be constructed about the conguration surface grid.
Information, such as far-eld boundary surfaces and
grid spacing controls to capture anticipated physics,
is required. Surface grids that are generated for lowlevel analyses usually are not suitable to directly connect to a surrounding volume grid. Interpolation or
reevaluation of the surface grid is most often required
In the preliminary-design phase, high-level anal- before proceeding to high-level analysis5.
ysis and testing of physical models are performed.
Geometry for computational analysis and the con- The sensitivity of mission dependent variables with
struction of test models is extracted from the CAD respect to design variables is a desired and often
model. Usually the airplane surface geometry is xed used feature in the design process. An intermediexcept for the occasional change that may result from ate requirement for many techniques is surface-grid
the new analyses, and these changes are implemented and volume-grid sensitivity with respect to the dein the CAD model. In the detailed-design phase, sign variables6.
the CAD model is the central design representation,
now containing detailed information for manufacturIn this paper, a methodology to dene a class of
ing the airplane1.
airplane congurations and directly evaluate surface
grids, volume grids, and grid sensitivity is presented.
It can be argued that a CAD model should be im- The objective of the methodology is to provide surplemented at the very earliest stage of conceptual de- face denition and grid generation for conceptual design. However, conventional CAD models and CAD sign that could be used in a wide spectrum of analysoftware are very general and very complex. Usually ses (potential ow to Navier-Stokes). The methodola CAD specialist is required to implement the soft- ogy and associated software is called Rapid Airplane
ware. In an environment where the ability to quickly Parametric Input Design (RAPID). The general conchange features of the geometry is nearly as impor- guration, at this writing, has wing, fuselage, vertical
tant as the geometry itself, it is desirable: (1) to have tail, horizontal tail, and canard components (Fig. 1).
the geometry model specied in terms of a small number of design parameters; (2) to visualize the geometry and interact with it to explore the envelope of
possibilities; and (3) to quickly extract grids and grid
2

3. FUSELAGE SURFACE

The denition of the lifting surfaces is based on the

PDE method as described by Bloor and Wilson7;8.
Design parameters are incorporated into boundary
conditions for the PDE solution. The fuselage has
circular cross section and is dened with an algebraic
function.

The fuselage denition in the RAPID methodology

is an algebraic function which creates two surfaces one above the fuselage intersection with the lifting
components and one below (Fig. 3). The airplane
is considered to be symmetric about the xz plane at
y = 0, and only one side of the airplane surface is
2. THE PDE METHOD
computed. The fuselage cross section is circular, and
The PDE method generates a Euclidean Space sur- both the upper and lower surfaces can be represented
face X = (x(; ), y(; ), z (; )) transformed from as X = (x(;  ); y(;  ); z (;  )) where
(0    1)  (0    1) computational space.
The transformation is obtained by solving the fourth x = RF ; y = r( )cos(=2); z = r( )sin(=2);
order partial dierential equation
r( ) = R0 sin() + R1sin(3);

2
2
2
@
2 @
 = ((1 R2) + R2);
a
+ @
X = 0:
(1)
2
@ 2
0    1;
0    1:
(3)
By letting (0    1) ! (0    2), a general
 = 0 corresponds to the end point on the fuselage,
periodic solution to Eq. 1 is:
and  = 0 corresponds to a point along the curve sep1
X
arating the upper and lower fuselage surfaces (Fig.
X(; ) = A0 + An()cos(n) + Bn()sin(n); 3).
n=1
(2)
The parameters for the fuselage are: RF , the fusewhere
lage length; R0 and R1, control for the fuselage raA0 = a00 + a01 + a022 + a033;
dius; and R2, a parameter to control a nite radius
at the end of the fuselage. The boundary curve sepaAn = an1ean + an2ean + an3e an + an4e an ; rating the upper and lower fuselage surfaces is a comof the fuselage intersection with the lifting
Bn = bn1ean + bn2ean + bn3e an + bn4e an : bination
components and cubic curves connecting the interan1, an2, an3, an4 and bn1, bn2, bn3, bn4 are vector- sections. The fuselage center is optionally allowed to
valued constants determined by the boundary condi- translate upward along a quadratic function from the
tion imposed at  = 0 and  = 1. The boundary trailing wing/fuselage intersection point to the end of
conditions are:
the fuselage. This creates a \duck tail" characteristic
in the fuselage (Fig. 4).
X(; 0) = D0(); X(; 1) = D1();
A surface grid is created by evaluating the surface
X (; 0) = N0(); X (; 1) = N1():
functions at discrete  (I ) and  (K ). In order to conIncorporating a set of design parameters P in the centrate the grid in certain regions, such as around
boundary conditions controls the shape of the sur- the wing/fuselage intersection, it is necessary to create control functions that map 0  ;   1 into
face.
0  ;   1. The grid control functions and the
For the family of airplanes described herein, two grid control parameters used in RAPID for this purPDE surfaces dene the wing (Fig.2). Boundary con- pose are discussed in a Section 5.
ditions are specied at: (1) the wing/fuselage in4. PDE BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
tersection; (2) the crank between the inboard-wing
component and outboard-wing component; and (3) Two PDE surfaces are used in RAPID to crethe wingtip. The horizontal tail, vertical tail and ate a wing. Each surface is computed in a subroucannard components are each described with a single tine. The input is an evaluation of the Dirichlet and
PDE surface with boundary condition at the fuselage Neumann boundary conditions D0( (I )), N0 ( (I )),
intersections and at the tips. The PDE boundary D1( (I )), N1 ( (I )), and (J ) chosen to ensure tanconditions are detailed in Section 4.
gent continuity between adjoining surface. Spacing
control in the  direction is achieved by mapping
3

0    1 ! 0    1 prior to the surface evalua- the inboard wing component. The Dirichlet boundtion. Grid spacing is discussed in the Section 5. The ary condition for this component at the wing/fuselage
PDE output is a surface grid X(I; J ) which can be intersection is:
visualized, used for volume grid computation about
2
3
x = BCw x
( ) + Xw
the airplane, or used in an analysis of the airplane.
6
7
6
7
p
in( ) = 6
2
2 7:
(6)
D
r
(

)
z
y
=
F
1
6
7
The manipulation of a single airfoil section is cur4
5
rently applied in RAPID for all of the Dirichlet condiz = y( )Ta + Zw
tions. The section is governed by design parameters
and is scaled, rotated and translated into dierent Bw is the wing-root chord length, Xw and Zw transboundary positions with additional parameters. The late the wing/fuselage intersection, and Ta scales the
airfoil section is dened by the sum of a camber curve thickness at the wing/fuselage intersection relative to
and a thickness curve (Fig 6). The airfoil equations the thickness at the crank. The  -location on the
are:
fuselage corresponding to the intersection is:
( ) = Csin;

x 

( ) = yt ( ) + yc ( );

y 

F

 ( ) = T2 (sin2 + F1 sin4 + F2sin6 );

yt 

 ( ) = P 2 (2P sin (sin ) );

yc 

w
:
= RBwC x( ) + X
R
F

The Dirichlet boundary condition for the outboard

wing surface at the wing tip is:

 P;

(1 2P + 2P sin (sin )2 ) x  P;
yc ( ) = M
(1 P )2
0  P  1; 0    1:
(4)

D (

out 
0

= CE x( ) + Xt

6
6
) = 66 y = R0 + H1 + H2
4

3
7
7
7:
7
5

(7)

E
z= C
y( ) + Zt
The design parameters for the section are: C , the
section chord length; T , the section manimun thick- E is the chord length at the wing tip; Xt and Zt
ness; F1 and F2 , Fourier coecients; M , maximum translates the wing tip in the xz -plane; and H2 is the
camber; P , location of maximum camber. The de- span length of the outboard-wing component.
nition of the section starts at the trailing point, proceeds beneath the camber curve, around the leading The Neumann boundary condition for both the
point and over the camber curve back to the trailing inboardand outboard-wing surface at the crank is:
point. The location of maximum camber is measured
3
2 @x S
from the trailing point.
= 1 x( )

6
6
6
out
(

)
=
6
1
6
4

@

7
7

7
@y
Given the basic wing section, the Dirichlet boundNin0 () = N
:
(8)
@ = S1 7
7
ary condition for the two wing components can be
5
expressed. Boundary  = 0 for the inboard surface
@z
@ = 0
is at the crank, and the  = 1 boundary is at the
wing/fuselage intersection (Fig. 5). For the outboard
wing component the  = 0 boundary is at the wing S1 is a design parameter which aects the transition
tip and the  = 1 boundary is at the crank. The between the inboard and outboard wing components.
crank Dirichlet boundary condition is:
The Neumann boundary condition applied at the
2
3
x=x
( ) + Xc
wing/fuselage
intersection is:
6
7
6
7
2 @x
3
6
7
@ y
Din0 () = Dout
(5)
1 ( ) = 6 y = R0 + H1 7 ;
@ = S2 sin @
4

= y( ) + Zc

in
1

where (Xc ; Zc ) translates the crank boundary in a xz

plane at y = R0 + H1 and H1 is the span length of
4

6
6
= 666
4

@y
@
@z
@

=
=

@x r( ) @r +z @z
F @x
@
@

S2 sin @@x

7
7
7
7:
7
5

(9)

where S2 is a design parameter aecting the transi- by a Newton-Raphson process while satisfying a rst
derivative continuity condition at (K3 ; K1).
tion of the wing into the fuselage.
The Neumann boundary condition at the wing tip The grid control parameters are distinguished from
is zero in current RAPID software.
the conguration design parameters. The design parameters are referred to as the set P , and the grid
The tail and cannard components are described in parameters are referred to as the set K. K includes
a similar fashion with a single surface, and the de- the grid spacing parameters described above and the
tails are not presented. There are numerous choices volume grid control points discussed in the Section 6.
of boundary conditions to achieve a desired eect in
6. VOLUME GRID GENERATION
the lifting surfaces. Those described here represent
only one choice that is incorporated into RAPID soft- A Control Point Form/Transnite Interpolation
technique10 is used to compute volume grids for the
ware.
RAPID methodology. A considerable amount of information has been published on this grid generation
5. GRID SPACING CONTROL
The evaluation of the equations presented in the method and its variations, and only the major steps
previous two sections results in surface grids. An H- are presented here.
type topology is chosen for the general airplane surface and volume grid denition. The proper spacing Having established a grid on the conguration surof grid points within the topology constraints is very face, the volume grid generation is accomplished in
important for achieving acceptable accuracy in the four major steps.
application of a ow analysis about the vehicle surface. A double exponential function9 which maps the Step 1 is the determination of a grid in the symcomputational variables  , , and  onto themselves metry plane. The basic functions used in RAPID
is used in the RAPID methodology. The grid spacing are those for Bezier curves computed with the de
control function is:
Casteljau scheme11. Control points for an intermeK2
diate curve and for a far-eld curve are computed

e K3
1;
from the dimensions of the fuselage (Fig. 8). A set of
 = K1 K
e 2
1
points are distributed in the  -direction on the control curves obtained from the control points. Inter0    K3 ; 0    K1 ;
polation from the fuselage surface across the control
K  K3
1
e 4 1 K3
curves is obtained with a de Casteljau application in
 = K1 + (1 K1 )
the -computational direction (Fig. 9).
eK4
1 ;
K3  
  1; K1    1;
Step 2 is the determination of a three-dimensional
D (K3)
K4 chosen 3

C 1:
(10)
grid
surface containing the lifting components (Fig.
D
10).
Note that in the H-topology, the top and botFig. 7 is used to help describe the grid control param- tom grids
are considered separately. A similar process
eters K1 ; K2; K3, and K4 . K1 and K3 are coordinates to that used
the symmetry grid for computing
of a point in the unit square.  is the independent control pointswith
from
the fuselage and lifting surfaces
computational variable and corresponds to the per- is applied.
centage of grid points in a particular direction. 
is the dependent computational variable and corresponds to the percentage of distance in the physical Step 3 is the determination of a cap grid. Control
space along a grid curve. K2 and K4 are coecients points are extracted from the extreme x and y grid
in the exponential functions dened for a particular coordinates in the lifting surface grid and the extreme
part of the unit square. Where there is low slope in z-grid coordinates in the symmetry plane grid (Fig.
the control functions, there is a concentration in the 11). The de Casteljau scheme is applied with these
grid points, and where there is high slope, there is control points (Fig. 12).
dispersion in the grid points. In the RAPID methodology Eq. 10 is used several times. The approach Step 4 is the application of Transnite Interpolaspecies a desired spacings at the  = 0 and/or at tion to compute the interior grid (Fig. 13).

 = 1 and/or K3 . K1 ; K2,and K4 are determined
5

14 for linear aerodynamics optimization. There is

It is necessary to use several grid-spacing control also a C-programming language version of ADIFOR
functions and their control parameters in addition to which has been applied to CSCMDO.
the interpolation control points in order to achieve a
8. RAPID EXAMPLES
good grid for a given set of design parameters. At
this writing, this requires some trial and error before Four RAPID examples are presented to demonacceptable parameters are realized. However, once strate the range of application. The examples show
an acceptable set of grid parameters K are found for only the conguration surfaces.
a given set of design parameters P , small changes in
P do not require changes in K. Therefore, repetitive The rst example is shown in Fig. 14. The wing is
small changes in the design parameters such as dur- high relative to the fuselage and has high aspect raing conguration optimization, does not require the tio. The fuselage is relatively short compared to the
constant modication of the grid parameters. Also wing span. The wing is relatively thin and cambered
note that the volume grids obtained with this algo- at the mid chord.
rithm are computed only out to the wing tip. An
additional far-eld grid would be necessary for most
The second example is shown in Fig. 15. It is a
high-level uid analyses.
High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) like conguration with a double-delta wing. The leading edge of
An option to using the volume grid generation de- each wing segment is straight as the result of setting
scribed above is to use the Coordinate and Sensitiv- the parameters S1 and S2 equal to zero.
ity Calculator for Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization (CSCMDO) process described in Reference
12. In CSCMDO, the RAPID surface grid or a surface The third example is shown in Fig. 16 and is simigrid from some other source is INPUT. The GRID- lar to the HSCT conguration. The dierence is that
GEN/CSCMDO software is used to establish an ini- the wing now has a single delta planform created with
tial volume grid. Thereafter, the initial grid is used two components.
by CSCMDO to generate a new volume grid for a new
INPUT surface grid. Here again, only small changes The fourth example shown in Fig. 17 is another
in the design parameters can be tolerated without HSCT like conguration. It represents the degree of
reestablishing the initial grid.
sophistication that can be incorporated into a RAPID
model. The fuselage has a \coke bottle" shape. The
7. GRID SENSITIVITY
wing has dihedral, twist, and the planform is not rectGradient based techniques applied to aerodynamic angular. A canard is also included.
congurations optimization require the determina9. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
vol @ Xsurf ). In
tion of grid sensitivity ( @ X@ Pvol = @@XXsurf
@P
The RAPID methodology has been outlined for
the past in order to evaluate such derivatives, each creating
airplane congurations for conceptual analyexpression would have to be dierentiated and chain sis and optimization.
By establishing a grid topology,
ruled through out the mathematical system, either grid spacing control, semiautomatic
volume grid genby hand or with the aid of a computer-aided alge- eration, and grid sensitivity a more complete
analysis
braic manipulation system. Fortunately, today there and optimization can be carried out in the conceptual
are automatic dierentiation programs that dieren- design phase without incurring expensive geometric
tiate code in other programs. The automatic dier- development. The methodology has considerable verentiation program used with RAPID in called Auto- satility and is very computationally ecient.
matic Dierentiation for FORTRAN (ADIFOR) developed at the Argonne National Laboratory and
10. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Rice University13. ADIFOR is a preprocessor which
dierentiates FORTRAN code. The output of ADI- The authors would like to thank Dr. Jamshid AbolFOR is another FORTRAN code containing both the hassani and Mr. Bill Jones, members of the Langley
function evaluation and the derivative evaluations of Research Center GEOmetry LABoratory (GEOLAB)
the function with respect to specied input variables. for many helpful discussions and assistance with the
ADIFOR has been applied to batch versions of the application of CSCMDO. The rst author would also
RAPID methodology and is described in Reference like to thank Dr. Gerald Farin of Arizona State Uni6

versity with whom many helpful and interesting discussions on the topic of this paper were held during
the author's sabbatical at ASU in 1994.

11. References

Raymer, D. P., Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach, AIAA Educational Series, AIAA, 1989.
2
Nicolai, L., Fundamentals of Airplane Design, Distributed by the University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, 1975.
3
Roskam, J., Airplane Design, Rowskam Aviation and
Engineering Co., Ottawa, KA, 1989.
4 Smith, R. E., and Kerr, P. A.,\Geometric Requirements
for Multidisciplinary Analysis of Aerospace-Vehicle Design," AIAA Paper 92-4773-CP, Sept. 1992.
5
Thompson, J., Warsi, Z., and Mastin, C., Numerical
Grid Generation Foundations and Applications, NorthHolland, 1985.
6
Sobieszczanski-Sobieski, J. \The Case for Aerodynamic
Sensitivity Analysis," Paper presented to NASA/VPI
SSY Symposium on Sensitivity Analysis in Engineering,
September 25-26, 1986.
7
Bloor, M. and Wilson, M., \Generating Blend Surfaces
Using Partial Dierential Equations," CAD, 21, No. 3 pp
165-171, 1989.
8
Bloor, M., and Wilson, M., \Using Partial Dierential
Equations to Generate Free-Form Surfaces," ComputerAided Design, 22, pp 202-212, 1990.
9 Smith, R. and Everton, E., \Interactive Grid Generation for Fighter Aircraft Geometries," Numerical Grid
Generation in Computational Fluid Mechanics '88, pp.
805-814, Pine Ridge Press Ltd., 1988.
10
Eiseman, P. R., and Smith, R. E., \Applications of
Algebraic Grid Generation , Applications of Mesh Generation to Complex 3-D Congurations," AGARD-CP-464,
pp. 4-1-12, 1989.
11
Farin, G., Curves and Surfaces for Computer-Aided
Geometric Design A Practical Guide, Academic Press,
1993.
12 Jones, W., and Samareh-Abolhassani, J., \A Grid Generation System for Multi-disciplinary Design," AIAA Paper 95-1689, June, 1995.
13
Bischof, C., et. al., \Automatic Dierentiation of Advanced CFD Codes for Multidisciplinary Design," Computer Systems in Engineering No. 3, pp 625-637, 1993.
14
Thomas, A., Smith, R., and Tiwari, S., \Aerodynamic Shape Optimization of Blend Surfaces Representing HSCT Type Congurations," AIAA Paper 95-1826,
June, 1995.
1

Fig. 1 General airplane conguration

Fig. 2 Conguration surface topology

Fig. 4 Duck tail fuselage characteristic

Fig. 5 Wing section denition

Fig. 3 Fuselage surface and topology

Fig. 6 Wing component boundary conditions

Fig. 7 Grid spacing control function

Fig. 9 Symmetry grid

Fig. 8 Symmetry plane control net

Fig. 10 Surface grid containing lifting components

Fig. 11 Control point for outer grid surface

Fig. 13 Sample grid surfaces

Fig. 14 High wing conguration

Fig. 12 Outer grid surface

10

Fig. 15 HSCT conguration

Fig. 16 Delta wing conguration

Fig. 17 Canard twisted-wing conguration

11