Multi-Disciplinary Design Optimization of Transonic Fan Blade Design Using Analytical Target Cascading

Analytical Target Cascading (ATC), a multilayer multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) formulation employed on a transonic fan design problem. This paper demonstrates the ATC solution process including the specific way of initializing the problem and handling system level and discipline level targets. High-fidelity analysis tools for aerodynamics, structure and dynamics disciplines have been used. A multi-level parameterization of the fan blade is considered for reducing the number of design variables. The overall objective is the transonic fan efficiency improvement under structure and dynamics constraints. This design approach is applied to the redesign of the NASA Rotor 67. The overall study explores the key points of implementation of ATC on transonic fan design practical problem.