Sensitivity Analysis and System Attribute Importance for Conceptual Aircraft Design with the Advanced Morphological Approach

Abstract

The search for a rational design subspace of aircraft configurations can be addressed by using the advanced morphological approach (AMA). It allows the decomposition of design problems into functional and/or characteristic attributes and their technological implementation options. These are systemized in a morphological matrix (MM). Based on expert evaluations of each option, an exhaustive space is generated containing option combinations as possible solutions. Therefore, extensive MMs lead to immense solution spaces that are hard to analyze. However, removing attributes without justification might leave potential rational solutions out of scope. In this context, a sensitivity analysis technique is suggested based on analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests for use with the AMA. It can be applied to assess the sensitivity of solution scores against the attribute options and their importance. As a result, optimization of the MM and solution space can be achieved and improvement proposals can be drawn for future problem statements with the AMA. This is demonstrated on the data from a previously conducted AMA workshop on the conceptual design of a search and rescue aircraft.