AI Revolutionizes "Blisk" Design in New DARPA-Funded Collaboration

09.10.2024

Artificial intelligence intersects with “blisk” design in a new DARPA-funded collaboration that brings together top researchers from MIT, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and Lehigh University. The project, part of the Multiobjective Engineering and Testing of Alloy Structures (METALS) program, aims to develop advanced tools for optimizing both shape and material composition in multi-material structures. The team’s focus will be on the complex bladed disk, or “blisk,” commonly found in jet and rocket engines, using it as a case study to tackle critical engineering challenges.

“This collaboration could have a transformative impact on aerospace technology, potentially leading to more reliable and reusable rocket engines for next-generation heavy-lift launch vehicles,” says Zachary Cordero, the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Associate Professor at MIT and lead principal investigator. “By merging classical mechanics with cutting-edge AI-driven design, we can unlock new capabilities in compositionally graded alloys, allowing safe operation in extreme conditions.”

Blisks, which experience varying stresses across their structure, require different thermomechanical properties at different points. This project seeks to address those challenges by leveraging additive manufacturing technologies that allow for precise control over material properties at the voxel level, opening the door to unprecedented design innovations.

Cordero and his team, which includes experts in computational material engineering, AI-based design, and additive manufacturing, hope to redefine how aerospace components are built, with a focus on cost-effectiveness, sustainability, and enhanced performance.

The research, funded under DARPA contract HR00112420303, emphasizes that the opinions and findings shared by the researchers do not reflect the official stance of the Department of Defense or the U.S. government.