Integrating Optimization and Computational Fluid Dynamics for Simulation-Based Aerodynamic Design

Arron Melvin

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering , Princeton University

The status of advanced computational simulation techniques in the aerodynamic design of modern aircraft is reviewed. A control theory based adjoint approach which considerably reduces the computational cost of the calculation of design sensitivities is presented. Each design cycle requires the numerical solution of both the flow and adjoint equations (non-linear PDEs), leading to a computational cost roughly equal to the cost of two flow solutions. Entire design optimization calculations can be completed with a computational cost equivalent to only a few analysis runs. In order for these techniques to serve as practical design tools, turn-around times of a few hours are necessary. Thus a parallel computing implementation is essential; the challenges in achieving this are outlined.