The relationship between stiffness distribution and aeroelastic performance for a beam-frame model and a3-D model is investigated based on aeroelastic optimization of global stiffness design for high-aspect-ratio wings.The sensitivity information of wing spanwise stiffness distribution with respect to the twist angle at wing tip,the vertical displacement at wing tip,and the flutter speed are obtained using a sensitivity method for both models.Then the relationship between stiffness distribution and aeroelastic performance is summarized to guide the design procedure.By using the genetic/sensitivity-based hybrid algorithm,an optimal solution satisfying the strength,aeroelastic and manufacturing constraints is obtained.It is found that the summarized guidance is well consistent with the optimal solution,thus providing a valuable design advice with efficiency.The study also shows that the aeroelastic-optimization-based global stiffness design procedure can obtain the optimal solution under multiple constraints with high efficiency and precision,thereby having a strong application value in engineering. The relationship between stiffness distribution and aeroelastic performance for a beam-frame model and a3-D model is investigated based on aeroelastic optimization of global stiffness design for high-aspect-ratio wings. Sensitivity information of wing spanwise stiffness distribution with respect to twist angle at wing tip, the vertical displacement at wing tip, and the flutter speed are obtained using a sensitivity method for both models. The relationship between stiffness distribution and aeroelastic performance is summarized to guide the design procedure. By using the genetic / sensitivity- based hybrid algorithm, an optimal solution satisfying the strength, aeroelastic and manufacturing constraints is obtained. It is found that the local guidance is well consistent with the optimal solution, thus providing a valuable design advice with efficiency. The study also shows that the aeroelastic- optimization-based global stiffness design procedure can obtain the optimal solution under multiple constraints with high efficiency and precision, thus having a strong application value in engineering.