Optimal Blade System Design of a New Concept VTOL Vehicle Uusing the Departmental Computing Grid System

The blade system of a new concept VTOL vehicle is designed utilizing high performance and Grid computing technologies. The VTOL vehicle called cyclocopter employs a cycloidal propulsion system to generate the propulsion and lift for VTOL maneuver. The structural design and weight minimization of the composite blade system are critically related to the efficiency of whole cyclocopter system. The structural design is carried out using a hybrid genetic algorithm-based optimization framework on the Departmental Computing Grid(DCG) system, an aggregation of cluster resources installed in the Aerospace department of Seoul National University. High-fidelity simulation is conducted using our parallel finite element code (IPSAP) which employs the domain-wise parallel multifrontal solver, a direct solution method characterized by the solution robustness and the predictability of running time. The optimization results and computational aspects are displayed emphasizing the potential of the high performance Grid computing technology utilized for high-fidelity simulation based aerospace system design.