Lightweight design of solar-powered UAV wings considering mechanical behaviors of joints with an adaptive modelling of joints

This paper presents an innovative approach to optimize the layout and sizing of composite truss skeleton of wing structures of solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles, with a careful consideration of the mechanical behavior of joints. A novel finite element model is developed for the connecting joints, which incorporates both the locations and geometries of joints. Furthermore, substructure and parallel computing methods are implemented to tackle the challenges associated with optimizing large-scale trusses. Numerical examples show that the integrated optimization gives a more favorable design in terms of load-carrying performance and weight saving. Design schemes corresponding to different truss classification methods are discussed in terms of mechanical properties and manufacturing difficulties in numerical example.