MULTIDISCIPLINARY DESIGN OPTIMIZATION OF SOUNDING ROCKET FINS SHAPE USING A TOOL CALLED MDO-SONDA doi: 10.5028/jatm.2012.04044412

Abstract

Multidisciplinary design optimization is a promising field in aerospace engineering. However, advances in this field have not been applied yet to improve Brazilian sounding rockets, such as the VS-40. Therefore, to give a perspective of the multidisciplinary design optimization in this context, this work presented a case study of this rocket, which consists of the shape optimization of its fins. To achieve this goal, a special tool called MDO-SONDA, which is the main contribution of this work, was developed. Its current version interacts with two high-fidelity executable codes, one of aerodynamics and another of trajectory, exploiting the synergy between both disciplines. The MDO-SONDA is based on a multiobjective genetic algorithm whose real operator was originally designed in this work. By using the proposed tool, it was found that the drag due to the rocket fins could be reduced up to 29% without increasing the chances of adverse effects that could lead to unstable behaviors.