High Fidelity Simulation Based Optimization of Aircraft Fuselage Structure

Abstract

Aircraft Fuselage must be designed to achieve low structural weight while maintain adequate strength and stability under critical loading conditions. Conventional Global Finite Element Models (GFEM), typically composed of beam and shell elements, provide computational efficiency but may not capture detailed panel-level structural behavior. In this study, a high-fidelity finite element model of fuselage model is analyzed under Load Case to generate structural response data. A design of experiments (DOE) approach is used to explore the design space, and surrogate models are developed using polynomial regression for mass and box-cox regression for stress estimation. Structural Optimization is performed to minimize weight under strain constraints using Particle Swarm Optimization and brute-force search. The optimized configuration is further verified using a detailed finite element model (DFEM) of fuselage panel through eigenvalue buckling analysis, ensuring a buckling factor greater than 1.0.