A wing design methodology for low-boom low-drag supersonic business jet

The arguably most critical hindrance to the successful development of a commercial supersonic aircraft is the impact of the sonic boom signature. The sonic boom signature of a supersonic aircraft is predicted using sonic boom theory, which formulates a relationship between the complex three-dimensional geometry of the aircraft to the pressure distribution and decomposes the geometry in terms of simple geometrical components. The supersonic aircraft design process is typically based on boom minimization theory. This theory provides a theoretical equivalent area distribution which should be matched by the conceptual design in order to achieve the pre-determined sonic boom signature. The difference between the target equivalent area distribution and the actual equivalent area distribution is referred to here as the gap distribution.;The primary intent of this dissertation is to provide the designer with a systematic and structured approach to designing the aircraft wings with limited changes to the baseline concept while achieving critical design goals. The design process can be easily overwhelmed and may be difficult to evaluate their effectiveness. The wing design is decoupled into two separate processes, one focused on the planform design and the other on the camber design. Moreover, this design methodology supplements the designer by allowing trade studies to be conducted between important design parameters and objectives.;The wing planform design methodology incorporates a continuous gradient-based optimization scheme to supplement the design process. This is not meant to substitute the vast amount of knowledge and design decisions that are needed for a successful design. Instead, the numerical optimization helps the designer to refine creative concepts.;Last, this dissertation integrates a risk mitigation scheme throughout the wing design process. The design methodology implements minimal design changes to the wing geometry white achieving the target design goal. Undesired modifications which negate other design considerations such as wing flap design, fuel volume, etc. may occur. Instead, by minimizing the amount design modifications, the wing design retains its baseline design performance.