Engineering Trade-Off Between Performance Enhancement and Weight Reduction for Gear Housing Using Mathematical Optimization

This paper demonstrates effectiveness of mathematical optimization methods in performing engineering design trade-offs between structural performance and weight, while significantly reducing the design cycle time for a Sikorsky transmission housing. When the material for this was changed from Magnesium to Aluminum for better fatigue, corrosion and erosion performance, it also leads to 50% higher weight. Results presented in this paper demonstrate that application of optimization based design process enabled effective engineering trade-offs. This led to lighter weight, higher fatigue performance and reduced design cycle time. Integration of optimization methods in design process can be valuable to the Rotorcraft industry that is continually striving to design lighter weight helicopters without sacrificing performance, while reducing the design cycle time.