A New Aerodynamic Optimization Method with the Consideration of Dynamic Stability

Abstract

Dynamic stability is significantly important for flying quality evaluation and control system design of the advanced aircraft, and it should be considered in the initial aerodynamic design process. However, most of the conventional aerodynamic optimizations only focus on static performances and the dynamic motion has never been included. In this study, a new optimization method considering both dynamic stability and general lift-to-drag ratio performance has been developed. First, the longitudinal combined dynamic derivative based on the small amplitude oscillation method is calculated. Then, combined with the PSO (particle swarm optimization) algorithm, a dynamic stability derivative that must not be decreased is added to the constraints of optimization and the lift-drag ratio is chosen as the optimization objective. Finally, a new aerodynamic optimization method can be built. We take NACA0012 as an example to validate this method. The results show that the dynamic derivative calculation method is effective and conventional optimization design can significantly improve the lift-drag ratio. However, the dynamic stability is enormously changed at the same time. By contrast, the new optimization method can improve the lift-drag performance while maintaining the dynamic stability.