OptiMACS ITN
European industrial doctorate for efficient multidisciplinary design Optimisation of Multifunctional Aerospace Composite Structures
Modern aeronautical structures, increasingly being made of composite materials, provides a challenge to the structural designer in terms of design optimisation that takes into account all operational constraints (i.e. reliability, stability, strength, weight, noise, manufacturability and cost).
There is a need to:
- Develop, deliver and implement novel, accurate and efficient structural Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation (MDO) tools
- Nurture and train the next generation of MDO research professionals.
The OptiMACS team is:
- Inter-sectoral drawing from both academia and industry with all Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) spending at least 50% of their time at one of the industrial beneficiaries
- Multi-disciplinary combining expertise from mechanical, aerospace, manufacturing and software engineering, as well as from the area of applied mathematics
Meet the ESRs

‘Development of reliable discretisation schemes and formulation of manufacturing and design rules within gradient-based optimisation’

‘Design of optimisation criteria for carbon fiber-reinforced plastic laminates in terms of performance and reliability’

‘Implementation of novel finite element constitutive update schemes for anisotropic, viscoelastic solids to simulate more accurately manufacturing defects’

‘Development of global/local approaches for the analysis and optimisation of composite structures and increasing the computational efficiency of specific performance models through novel global/local approaches’

‘Development of a methodology for facilitating digital data continuity as well as a seamless modular interaction of all tools and activities contributing to the complete composite development process’
The two pillars of OptiMACS are:
- Research- OptiMACS will focus on improving the accuracy and efficiency of the MDO platform currently employed by AIRBUS
- Training- OptiMACS ESRs will be given opportunities to develop transferrable skills alongside their research expertise
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