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Aerospace
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Aerodynamic Shape Optimization for Aerospace Engineering Applications
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Aerodynamic Shape Optimization for Aerospace Engineering Applications

A special issue of Aerospace (ISSN 2226-4310). This special issue belongs to the section "Aeronautics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2022) | Viewed by 14537

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Fernando Lau

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CCTAE, IDMEC, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, No. 1, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: aeroacoustics; morphing structures; aircraft design

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The search for more energy efficient aerospace designs, combined with the advances in computer science, has led to the use of Aerodynamic Shape Optimization (ASO). This is a powerful numerical tool that helps to design the shape of an aerospace vehicle for a given flow condition or set of conditions in a multi-point optimization problem. Today, ASO has been applied to a spectra of flow regimes: (i) low subsonic vehicles such as those for general aviation and urban air mobility segments; (ii) transonic airliners; (iii) supersonic jets; (iv) hypersonic vehicles. Some of these applications also involve disciplines such as structures and heat transfer in an integrated way by means of a Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) architecture.

The objective of this Special Issue is to present the state of the art in ASO.

Prof. Dr. Fernando Lau
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Aerospace is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • aerodynamic shape optimization
  • topology optimization
  • multidisciplinary design optimization
  • computational fluid dynamics
  • structural analysis

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 6116 KiB  
Article
Aerodynamic Optimization of Transonic Rotor Using Radial Basis Function Based Deformation and Data-Driven Differential Evolution Optimizer
by Yi Liu, Jiang Chen, Jinxin Cheng and Hang Xiang
Aerospace 2022, 9(9), 508; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace9090508 - 13 Sep 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1440
Abstract
The complicated flow conditions and massive design parameters bring two main difficulties to the aerodynamic optimization of axial compressors: expensive evaluations and numerous optimization variables. To address these challenges, this paper establishes a novel fast aerodynamic optimization platform for axial compressors, consisting of [...] Read more.
The complicated flow conditions and massive design parameters bring two main difficulties to the aerodynamic optimization of axial compressors: expensive evaluations and numerous optimization variables. To address these challenges, this paper establishes a novel fast aerodynamic optimization platform for axial compressors, consisting of a radial basic function (RBF)-based blade parameterization method, a data-driven differential evolution optimizer, and a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) solver. As a versatile interpolation method, RBF is used as the shape parameterization and deformation technique to reduce optimization variables. Aiming to acquire competitive solutions in limited steps, a data-driven evolution optimizer is developed, named the pre-screen surrogate model assistant differential evolution (pre-SADE) optimizer. Different from most surrogate model-assisted evolutionary algorithms, surrogate models in pre-SADE are used to screen the samples, rather than directly estimate them, in each generation to reduce expensive evaluations. The polynomial regression model, Kriging model, and RBF model are integrated in the surrogate model to improve the accuracy. To further save optimization time, the optimizer also integrates parallel task management programs. The aerodynamic optimization of a transonic rotor (NASA Rotor 37) is performed as the validation of the platform. A differential evolution (DE) optimizer and another surrogate model-assisted algorithm, committee-based active learning for surrogate model assisted particle swarm optimization (CAL-SAPSO), are introduced for the comparison runs. After optimization, the adiabatic efficiency, total pressure ratio, and surge margin are, respectively, increased by 1.47%, 1.0%, and 0.79% compared to the initial rotor. In the same limited steps, pre-SADE gets a 0.57% and 0.51% higher rotor adiabatic efficiency than DE and CAL-SAPSO, respectively. With the help of parallel techniques, pre-SADE and DE save half the optimization time compared to CAL-SAPSO. The results verify the effectiveness and the rapidity of the fast aerodynamic optimization platform. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aerodynamic Shape Optimization for Aerospace Engineering Applications)
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23 pages, 6841 KiB  
Article
Aerodynamic Performance Uncertainty Analysis and Optimization of a Conventional Axisymmetric Vehicle Based on Parallel Polynomial Chaos Expansions
by Xun Peng, Hao Zhu, Dajun Xu, Mingyang Xiao, Weizong Wang and Guobiao Cai
Aerospace 2022, 9(8), 396; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace9080396 - 22 Jul 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2340
Abstract
In this study, the aerodynamic uncertainty analysis and optimization of a conventional axisymmetric vehicle with an aerodynamic configuration were investigated. The prediction precision of the typical aerodynamic performance estimating methods, namely, engineering estimation and numerical simulation, was compared using the wind tunnel test [...] Read more.
In this study, the aerodynamic uncertainty analysis and optimization of a conventional axisymmetric vehicle with an aerodynamic configuration were investigated. The prediction precision of the typical aerodynamic performance estimating methods, namely, engineering estimation and numerical simulation, was compared using the wind tunnel test data of the vehicle. Then, using a modified missile data compendium (DATCOM) software, a high-efficiency and high-precision method was developed, which was applied to analyze and characterize the aerodynamic parameters of the axisymmetric vehicle. To enhance the robustness and reliability of aerodynamic performance, an uncertainty-based design optimization (UDO) framework was established. The design space was scaled by parameter sensitivity analysis, and improved computational efficiency was achieved by developing parallel polynomial chaos expansions (PCEs). The optimized results show that the modified method exhibits high accuracy in predicting aerodynamic performance. For the same constraints, the results of the deterministic design optimization (DDO) showed that compared with the initial scheme, the probability of the controllability-to-stability ratio satisfying the constraint decreased from 98.8% to 72.4%, and this value increased to 99.9% in the case of UDO. Compared with the results of the initial scheme and DDO, UDO achieved a considerable reduction in mean values and standard deviation of aerodynamic performances, which can ensure a higher probability of constraints meeting the design requirements, thereby, realizing a reliable and robust design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aerodynamic Shape Optimization for Aerospace Engineering Applications)
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32 pages, 11114 KiB  
Article
A Multi-Objective Factorial Design Methodology for Aerodynamic Off-Takes and Ducts
by Apostolos Spanelis and Alastair Duncan Walker
Aerospace 2022, 9(3), 130; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace9030130 - 02 Mar 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2217
Abstract
Fluid off-takes and complex delivery ducts are common in many engineering systems but designing them can be a challenging task. At the conceptual design phase many system parameters are open to consideration and preliminary design studies are necessary to instruct the conceptualisation process [...] Read more.
Fluid off-takes and complex delivery ducts are common in many engineering systems but designing them can be a challenging task. At the conceptual design phase many system parameters are open to consideration and preliminary design studies are necessary to instruct the conceptualisation process in an iterative development of design ideas. This paper presents a simple methodology to parametrically design, explore and optimise such systems at low cost. The method is then applied to an aerodynamic system including an off-take followed by a complex delivery duct. A selection of nine input variables is explored via a fractional factorial design approach that consists of three individual seven-level cubic factorial designs. Numerical predictions are characterised based on multiple aerodynamic objectives. A scaled representation of these objectives allows for a scalarisation technique to be employed in the form of a global criterion which indicates a set of trade-off geometries. This leads to the selection of a set of nominal designs and the determination of their robustness which will eventually instruct the next conceptual design iteration. The results are presented and discussed based on criterion space, design variable space and contours of several flow quantities on a selection of optimal geometries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aerodynamic Shape Optimization for Aerospace Engineering Applications)
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29 pages, 1850 KiB  
Article
Aerodynamic Shape Optimisation of a Camber Morphing Airfoil and Noise Estimation
by Robert Valldosera Martinez, Frederico Afonso and Fernando Lau
Aerospace 2022, 9(1), 43; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace9010043 - 15 Jan 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3933
Abstract
In order to decrease the emitted airframe noise by a two-dimensional high-lift configuration during take-off and landing performance, a morphing airfoil has been designed through a shape design optimisation procedure starting from a baseline airfoil (NLR 7301), with the aim of emulating a [...] Read more.
In order to decrease the emitted airframe noise by a two-dimensional high-lift configuration during take-off and landing performance, a morphing airfoil has been designed through a shape design optimisation procedure starting from a baseline airfoil (NLR 7301), with the aim of emulating a high-lift configuration in terms of aerodynamic performance. A methodology has been implemented to accomplish such aerodynamic improvements by means of the compressible steady RANS equations at a certain angle of attack, with the objective of maximising its lift coefficient up to equivalent values regarding the high-lift configuration, whilst respecting the imposed structural constraints to guarantee a realistic optimised design. For such purposes, a gradient-based optimisation through the discrete adjoint method has been undertaken. Once the optimised airfoil is achieved, unsteady simulations have been carried out to obtain surface pressure distributions along a certain time-span to later serve as the input data for the aeroacoustic prediction framework, based on the Farassat 1A formulation, where the subsequent results for both configurations are post-processed to allow for a comparative analysis. Conclusively, the morphing airfoil has proven to be advantageous in terms of aeroacoustics, in which the noise has been reduced with respect to the conventional high-lift configuration for a comparable lift coefficient, despite being hampered by a significant drag coefficient increase due to stall on the morphing airfoil’s trailing edge. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aerodynamic Shape Optimization for Aerospace Engineering Applications)
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10 pages, 4436 KiB  
Article
Aerodynamic Performance of a Coaxial Hex-Rotor MAV in Hover
by Yao Lei, Jiading Wang and Wenjie Yang
Aerospace 2021, 8(12), 378; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace8120378 - 05 Dec 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2454
Abstract
Micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) usually suffer from several challenges, not least of which are unsatisfactory hover efficiency and limited fly time. This paper discusses the aerodynamic characteristics of a novel Hex-rotor MAV with a coaxial rotor capable of providing higher thrust in a [...] Read more.
Micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) usually suffer from several challenges, not least of which are unsatisfactory hover efficiency and limited fly time. This paper discusses the aerodynamic characteristics of a novel Hex-rotor MAV with a coaxial rotor capable of providing higher thrust in a compact structure. To extend the endurance during hover, flow field analysis and aerodynamic performance optimization are conducted by both experiments and numerical simulations with different rotor spacing ratios (i = 0.56, 0.59, 0.63, 0.67, 0.71, 0.77, 0.83, 0.91). The measured parameters are thrust, power, and hover efficiency during the experiments. Retip ranged from 0.7 × 105 to 1.3 × 105 is also studied by Spalart–Allmaras simulations. The test results show that the MAV has the optimum aerodynamic performance at i = 0.56 with Retip = 0.85 × 105. Compared to the MAV with i = 0.98 for Retip = 0.85 × 105, thrust is increased by 5.18% with a reduced power of 3.8%, and hover efficiency is also improved by 12.14%. The simulated results indicate a weakness in inter-rotor interference with the increased rotor spacing. Additionally, the enlarged pressure difference, reduced turbulence, and weakened vortices are responsible for the aerodynamic improvement. This provides an alternative method for increasing the MAV fly time and offers inspiration for future structural design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aerodynamic Shape Optimization for Aerospace Engineering Applications)
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