A Novel Surrogate-Assisted Structural Optimization Framework for Full-Aircraft Configurations

Designing lighter, stronger, and more efficient aircraft structures is a constant challenge in aerospace engineering. To this end, the present study introduces a novel surrogate-assisted structural optimization framework for full-aircraft configurations, integrating a parametric Finite Element Model (FEM) of the uCRM-13.5 geometry with Kriging-based Surrogate-Based Optimization (SBO). Unlike conventional approaches, that either optimize isolated aircraft components or rely on low-fidelity models, the proposed framework simultaneously sizes the wing, fuselage, and tail, capturing realistic load paths and global interactions under three load cases (cruise, +2.5