Version: Next

OpenAeroStruct Aerostructural

The aerostructural disciplines wrap a coupled OpenAeroStruct (OAS) vortex-lattice method (VLM) + finite-element structural analysis as Philote disciplines. Two decomposition strategies are provided: a monolithic approach that wraps the entire coupled analysis as a single discipline, and a split approach that exposes geometry, aerodynamics, and structures as three independent disciplines coupled on the client side.

Monolithic Architecture

The OasAerostructDiscipline packages the full OAS AerostructGeometry + AerostructPoint pipeline -- including the internal Gauss-Seidel coupling loop -- as a single Philote discipline.

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  OasAerostructDiscipline (Philote gRPC server)                       │
│                                                                      │
│  ┌────────────────┐     ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│  │ AerostructGeom  │────▶│         AerostructPoint                  │ │
│  │ (mesh + FEM     │     │  ┌─────────────────────────────────┐    │ │
│  │  setup)         │     │  │  CoupledAS (NonlinearBlockGS)   │    │ │
│  └────────────────┘     │  │  struct ↔ disp_xfer ↔ VLM ↔ loads│    │ │
│                          │  └─────────────────────────────────┘    │ │
│                          └──────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│                                                                      │
│  Inputs:                         Outputs:                            │
│    v, alpha, Mach_number           CL, CD, CM                        │
│    re, rho, CT, R, W0             fuelburn, failure                  │
│    speed_of_sound                  structural_mass                   │
│    load_factor, empty_cg                                             │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

OAS handles the internal aero-structural coupling (displacement transfer, VLM solve, load transfer, beam solve) automatically via its built-in NonlinearBlockGS solver. The Philote discipline simply exposes flight conditions and mission parameters as inputs and performance metrics as outputs.

Split Architecture

The split approach decomposes the analysis into three disciplines that can run as separate gRPC services:

┌──────────────┐
│  OasGeom     │──mesh, nodes, stiffness──┐
│  Discipline  │                          │
└──────────────┘                          ▼
                            ┌─────────────────────────┐
                            │   Coupled Group (client) │
                            │   NonlinearBlockGS       │
                            │                          │
                            │  ┌──────────┐  loads     │
                            │  │  Aero    │──────────▶│
                            │  │ Discipline│◀──────────│
                            │  └──────────┘   disp    │
                            │                          │
                            │  ┌──────────┐            │
                            │  │ Struct   │            │
                            │  │Discipline│            │
                            │  └──────────┘            │
                            └─────────────────────────┘

Discipline	Class	Role
Geometry	`OasGeomDiscipline`	Mesh generation, FEM setup, structural mass
Aerodynamics	`OasSplitAeroDiscipline`	Displacement transfer, VLM solve, load transfer
Structures	`OasSplitStructDiscipline`	Beam finite-element solve

The client assembles the three disciplines in OpenMDAO, connecting geometry outputs to both aero and structures, and wiring the coupling variables (loads and disp) inside a NonlinearBlockGS-driven coupled group.

Coupling Variables

The aero-structural coupling is mediated by two variables at the structural nodes:

Variable	Shape	Units	Direction
`loads`	(ny, 6)	N, N*m	Aero → Struct
`disp`	(ny, 6)	m, rad	Struct → Aero

Where ny is the number of spanwise nodes (with symmetry: (num_y + 1) // 2). Each row contains 3 force and 3 moment components.

When to Use Which Approach

Criterion	Monolithic	Split
Simplest setup	Yes	--
Fewest gRPC calls	Yes (1 discipline)	No (3 disciplines, iterative)
Disciplines on separate machines	--	Yes
Different language for each discipline	--	Yes
Custom coupling strategy	--	Yes
Access to intermediate coupling state	--	Yes

Configuration

All aerostructural disciplines accept the same two options, either via constructor arguments or Philote gRPC options:

mesh_dict -- dictionary passed to generate_mesh() (wing planform, panel counts)
surface -- dictionary merged into the OAS surface defaults (material properties, drag flags)

# Constructor (in-process)
discipline = OasAerostructDiscipline(
    mesh_dict={"num_y": 21, "num_x": 7, "wing_type": "CRM", "symmetry": True},
    surface_options={"E": 73.1e9, "G": 33.0e9},
)

# gRPC options (remote)
client.send_options({
    "mesh_dict": {"num_y": 21, "num_x": 7, "wing_type": "CRM", "symmetry": True},
    "surface": {"E": 73.1e9, "G": 33.0e9},
})

Performance

Benchmark results comparing native OAS (direct OpenMDAO) vs Philote gRPC:

Case	Native (s)	Philote (s)	Overhead
Aerostruct small (5x2)	0.100	0.211	112%
Aerostruct large (21x7)	0.181	0.232	28%
Split small (5x2)	0.146	0.282	94%
Split large (21x7)	0.175	0.405	131%

The monolithic overhead decreases with problem size as computation dominates the fixed gRPC round-trip cost. The split overhead is higher due to iterative gRPC calls during the coupling loop.

Monolithic Architecture​

Split Architecture​

Coupling Variables​

When to Use Which Approach​

Configuration​

Performance​