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End-to-end differentiable gust and maneuver loads at large scale via concurrent simulations
File(s)
Author(s)
Cea, Alvaro
Iorga, Lucian
Palacios, Rafael
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This paper introduces a new method for large-scale computation of aerodynamic loads for aircraft and airframe sizing. It is built on a geometrically nonlinear aeroelastic simulation framework with concurrent capabilities that can be deployed on modern hardware architectures. It enables the construction of load envelopes for static and dynamic cases in computational times of the order of seconds, as well as uncertainty quantification analysis via massively-parallel Monte Carlo simulations, while offering seamless integration with industrial-scale aircraft models. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis of the dynamic loads on concurrent computations is achieved via the use of state-of-the-art strategies for automatic differentiation and the extensive use of collective communication primitives. We demonstrate its use on a high-aspect-ratio-wing aircraft configuration, showing the ability of the solvers to capture nonlinear effects for external forces inducing large deformations and also the importance of these effects when studying modern aircraft concepts. Discrete, maneuver and gust loads are assessed for multiple flow and parametric conditions running concurrently. Sensitivities of maximum wing-root stresses and tip displacements are efficiently computed across all those
conditions and verified against finite differences.
Date Acceptance
2026-10-26
Citation
Journal of Fluids and Structures
URI
ISSN
0889-9746
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Fluids and Structures
Copyright Statement
Copyright This paper is embargoed until publication. Once published the author’s accepted manuscript will be made available under a CC-BY License in accordance with Imperial’s Research Publications Open Access policy (www.imperial.ac.uk/oa-policy).
License URL
Publication Status
Accepted