We are part of the Aircraft Aerodynamics and Design Group at Stanford University. Our principal project is supported by the HPCC Program at NASA Langley although this document also serves as the point of departure for other work in MDO supported by NASA Ames Research Center, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, and McDonnell Douglas. A list of recent publications by our group is now available. Reviews of our work under the HPCC program are presented annually at Langley in October.
Viewgraphs are available on-line and a summary progress reports are also available.
Several papers were presented from this group at the 5th Symposium on Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization. Some are now available on-line. General announcements may be found at the home page for the entire research group here. Although a variety of methods for multidisciplinary analysis and design have been developed over the last two decades, many difficulties continue to discourage the use of integrated optimization of large-scale systems involving many analysis disciplines and perhaps hundreds of design variables. Despite advances in database management, planning tools, and improved theoretical foundations for multidisciplinary optimization, the process is complex and time consuming, and is only occasionally adopted by industry for which expediency often does not permit such an integrated approach.