Topology Optimisation of Aircraft Wing Box Ribs

This paper considers the application of conventional energy based topology optimization methods for design of aircraft wing box ribs. Compared to standard topology optimization work undertaken at Airbus, the topology optimization of wing box ribs posed several additional challenges, mainly due to the wing box ribs being embedded in a redundant wing box structure. Several approaches to solving this problem have been investigated and are being reported as part of this paper, including a global analysis/optimization approach and two local analysis/optimization approaches. The paper also deals with both the selection of a suitable objective/constraint function formulation for topology optimization and selection of a suitable formulation for handling multiple load cases in topology optimization, but does not deal with any detailed sizing optimization of topology optimized designs.