An interactive visualization environment for decision making in aircraft engine preliminary design

This paper presents the development of an interactive visualization environment to assist designers and decision makers in selecting a baseline technology level, concept architecture, and parametric design point in aircraft engine preliminary design. An example study is presented in which the visualization environment is employed to allow a simultaneous comparison of the engine cycle design spaces enabled by each of several sets of technologies applied to a baseline engine design. The environment is generated by first sampling from the design variable ranges compatible with each technology set. This sampling produces a large combinatorial space of discrete engine designs which are then evaluated using surrogate models for engine performance and economics. The designs produced in this process can be displayed and interactively sorted in the visualization environment to determine the technologies and engine point designs that meet specific performance and economic targets. The primary innovative feature of the environment is an interactive scatterplot depicting the characteristics of the engine design space in n dimensions. This scatterplot can be used to display simultaneously both design variables and responses and to filter the discrete designs to determine regions of the design space that are most promising for further and more detailed exploration. It also serves as a unifying framework for a broader set of techniques supporting strategic design decisions.