Concept Level Topology Optimization of an AAM Fuselage

This paper aims to demonstrate the use of Simulation Driven Design and topology optimization for the conceptual design of an Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) airframe. Over the past few years, Altair has developed a streamlined process for automotive engineers to rapidly develop the main structure of a car body in white. This process relies on Altair Hypermesh® and Optistruct® to develop a concept level architecture and then refine it to a detailed design ready structure, while allowing full flexibility to explore different design ideas. With the emergence and rapid expansion of the AAM branch of the industry, many new aircraft concepts are competing to lead the industry into a new exciting phase. Because of the relative size of these concept and their complexity, they are very well suited to the kind of optimization Altair developed for the automotive industry. This paper explores the first phase of the Altair process, using a representative eVTOL fuselage as a reference. The work illustrates the capabilities, how the models are setup and suggests some best practices to help possible users get started. The work also shows how the results of such optimization can be interpreted.