A multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) framework is used for a conceptual submarine design study. Four discipline-level performances—internal deck area, powering, maneuvering, and structural analysis—are optimized simultaneously. The four discipline-level optimizations are driven by a system level optimization that minimizes the manufacturing cost while at the same time coordinates the exchange of information and the interaction among the discipline-level optimizations. Thus, the interaction among individual optimizations is captured along with the impact of the physical characteristics of the design on the manufacturing cost. A geometric model for the internal deck area of a submarine is created, and resistance, structural design, and maneuvering models are adapted from theoretical information available in the literature. These models are employed as simulation drivers in the discipline-level optimizations. Commercial cost-estimating software is leveraged to create a sophisticated, automated affordability model for the fabrication of a submarine pressure hull at the system level. First, each one of the four discipline optimizations and also the cost-related top level optimization are performed independently. As expected, five different design configurations result, one from each analysis. These results represent the "best" solution from each individual discipline optimization, and they are used as reference for comparison with the MDO solution. The deck area, resistance, structural, maneuvering, and affordability models are then synthesized into a multidisciplinary optimization statement reflecting a conceptual submarine design problem. The results from this coordinated MDO capture the interaction among disciplines and demonstrate the value that the MDO system offers in consolidating the results to a single design that improves the discipline-level objective functions while at the same time produces the highest possible improvement at the system level.
