A 5-Day Conceptual Aircraft Design Course in collaboration with The German Aerospace Center (DLR) and TU Braunschweig. March 23-27, 2026.
Venue
The course is hold in ZAL Tech Center:
Hein-Saß-Weg 22
21129 Hamburg, Germany
The lecture room is at DLR, MBSE Lab (Room A-4-130) , 4th floor in the A-Wing.
Tutors
Ingo Staack (TUB)
Björn Nagel (DLR)
Petter Krus (LiU)
Mikael Stenfelt (Saab)
Svjetlana Stekovic (LiU)
Programme
| 9:00h-10:30 h | 11:00h-12:30h | 12:30-13:30h | 13:30h-15:30h | 16:00h-17:30h | ||
| Monday | Travel to Hamburg (or L00) | Welcome lunch buffet | Welcome, Introduction to Aircraft Design (L01) | Technical Visit ZAL Tech Center | ||
| Tuesday | Lecture Fundamentals of Aircraft Design (L02) | Lecture FAD (L03) | Lunch (buffet or canteen) | Hands-on exercise (LAB1) & Recap/Task | Invited Talk: Airbus Future Projects Office (FPO) | |
| Wednesday | Lecture FAD (L04) | Lecture FAD (L05) | Lunch (buffet or canteen) | Talk: Digital Engineering Methods for Aircraft Design at DLR | Hands-on exercise (LAB2) & Recap/Task | Todo: Evening Activity |
| Thursday | Visit Airbus Factory incl. Final Assembly Line A320 (9:40-11:40) | Lunch (buffet or canteen) | Lecture FAD (L06) | Lecture FAD (L07) | Talk: Green Aircraft Design Examples from DLR | |
| Friday | Hands-on exercise (LAB3) & Recap/Task & Follow-Up | Travel back to Sweden / Lunch individually on the way | ||||
Detailed schedule
| Course code | Topic | Responsible person(s) | Content/Keywords; Course structure & learning outcomes |
| L00 | Arrival & Registration | Leonie, Björn, Ingo | Arrival on Sunday evening or Monday morning; Registration; Informal meet and greet; Start with lunch buffet |
| L01 | Introduction to the Course & Aicraft Concept Design (ACD) at a glance | Ingo: ACD foundations Björn: Digital engineering Petter: Systems engineering |
Overview of Aircraft Design Process (Ingo); Requirements definition; Aircraft sizing fundamentals; Importance of normalization (dimensionless coefficients); References areas & parametar selection (Petter); Parameterisation principles; Data-driven methods (regression, AI) in early design phases |
| L02 | Crash-Course: The Complete Aircraft Design Loop | Ingo, Björn | Walkthrough of one full conceptual aircraft design cycle (Ingo); Interdependencies between disciplines (Björn); Trade-offs and iteration logic (Björn); “On‑the‑fly” treatment of aerodynamics, structures, performance and sizing (Ingo, Björn) |
| L03 | Fundamentals of Lift and Drag | Ingo | Drag: Aerodynamic forces; Induced drag & parasite drag; Lift: Lift generation; Lift curve slope; Wing geometry effects; Laminar vs. turbulent flow; Drag polars; Connection to performance & sizing |
| LAB1 | Statistical analysis & Mission calculation Linking Research Topics to Aircraft Concept Design |
Björn, Ingo, Petter | Basic statistical methods for design; Mission definition & mission fuel calculation; Performance constraints; How to connect individual research topics to the aircraft design workflow; Data extraction & analysis for conceptual design |
| L04 | Wing Design, Weight Estimation & Structural Engineering (incl. Loads & Stability) | Ingo, Mikael, Svjetlana | Wing planform geometry (Ingo); High-lift systems (Ingo); Structural integration (Mikael): Initial structural layouts; Weight estimation methods; Center of Gravity (CG) CG and CG-travel (Ingo); Stability and control introduction (Ingo, Mikael); Loads cases and aero-structural interactions (Mikael); Materials & structural performance (Svjetlana) |
| L05 | Mission analysis, Performance Evaluation & Propulsion Fundamentals | Ingo, Mikael | Mission calculation (Ingo); Performance constraints, sizing diagram (Ingo); Climb/Cruise/loiter performance (Ingo); Propulsion system types & selection criteria (Mikael); Propulsion efficiency; Coupling between propulsion and aerodynamic/mission requirements (Mikael) |
| LAB2 | Drag build-up methods & Digital tools (OpenVSP, CPACS & TIGL) |
Björn, Ingo,Petter | Manual drag build‑up; Component drag estimation; Using OpenVSP (import/export workflow); Introduction to CPACS framework; Geometry visualisation with TiGL‑Viewer; Comparison of manual vs. automated methods |
| L06 | Full aircraft configuration from A to Z | Ingo, Mikael | Fuselage design & sizing (Ingo); Empennage design & tail sizing (Ingo), Engine/propulsion systemintegration (Mikael); Landing gear setups & integration (Ingo); Special mission influences (e.g., SAR, maritime patrol, research aircraft); Operational considerations & CG management (Ingo) |
| L07 | Systems Engineering: “The devil is in the details” | Petter, Ingo, Mikael, Björn, Svjetlana | Aircraft systems overview (electric, pneumatic, hydraulic) (Ingo); System integration challenges (Petter, Mikael); Safety and reliability requirements (Ingo); Material-system interactions (Svjetlana) Future system trends: new system designs and opportunities (Björn) |
| LAB3 | Group formation & Task definition for collaborative projects [examination] | Björn, Ingo, Petter | Formation of project teams; Definition of project scope; Choosing between e.g. AI‑based individual scripts or collaborative concept design tasks; Development of preliminary project plan; Expectations for the examination submission |
Follow-up activities
| Follow-up 1 | ca. 1 Month after Course | Online Catch-up and evt. Specialisation (on Request) (ca. 1h30) | Björn, Ingo, Petter |
| Follow-up 2 | ca. 3 Months after Course | Onsite Catch-up (e.g. within the SARC annual meeting) to finalize task or collaborative project/paper (ca. 0.5..1.0 day) | Björn, Ingo, Petter |