Multi-fidelity approaches for general constrained Bayesian optimization with application to aircraft design

2026-03-30

AI Summary

This work addresses the computational efficiency bottleneck in constrained Bayesian optimization for high-cost multidisciplinary design problems by proposing a constraint-aware multi-fidelity Bayesian optimization method. The approach uniquely integrates both objective and constraint information into the fidelity selection mechanism, overcoming the limitation of conventional strategies that rely solely on objective variance reduction. Leveraging low- and high-fidelity models constructed via vortex lattice and finite element methods, respectively, the proposed method yields 86%–200% more constraint-satisfying solutions under identical computational budgets compared to existing techniques. Its successful application to coupled aerodynamic-structural wing design demonstrates substantial improvements in both optimization efficiency and the quality of feasible solutions.

Abstract

Aircraft design relies heavily on solving challenging and computationally expensive Multidisciplinary Design Optimization problems. In this context, there has been growing interest in multi-fidelity models for Bayesian optimization to improve the MDO process by balancing computational cost and accuracy through the combination of high- and low-fidelity simulation models, enabling efficient exploration of the design process at a minimal computational effort. In the existing literature, fidelity selection focuses only on the objective function to decide how to integrate multiple fidelity levels, balancing precision and computational cost using variance reduction criteria. In this work, we propose novel multi-fidelity selection strategies. Specifically, we demonstrate how incorporating information from both the objective and the constraints can further reduce computational costs without compromising the optimality of the solution. We validate the proposed multi-fidelity optimization strategy by applying it to four analytical test cases, showcasing its effectiveness. The proposed method is used to efficiently solve a challenging aircraft wing aero-structural design problem. The proposed setting uses a linear vortex lattice method and a finite element method for the aerodynamic and structural analysis respectively. We show that employing our proposed multi-fidelity approach leads to $86\%$ to $200\%$ more constraint compliant solutions given a limited budget compared to the state-of-the-art approach.

Problem

• multi-fidelity
• Bayesian optimization
• constrained optimization
• aircraft design
• computational cost

Innovation

• multi-fidelity optimization
• constrained Bayesian optimization
• fidelity selection strategy
• aero-structural design
• computational efficiency