Aerodynamic optimization method based on Bezier curve and radial basis function

Abstract

Aerodynamic design is of great importance in the overall design of flight vehicles. In this study, an approach to aerodynamic design optimization is proposed by integrating Bezier curve parameterization and radial basis interpolation to enable large variation of aerodynamic profile during optimization. The Bezier curve uses the shape of a given airfoil and the radial basis function interpolation is applied to smoothly transfer the perturbation to the mesh in the whole flow field. Using design of experiments technique, the prominent design parameters that significantly affect the aerodynamic performance are determined. Aerodynamic optimizations are conducted for a wing airfoil and a blade airfoil to verify the efficiency of the proposed method. Genetic algorithm is employed in both single-objective and multiobjective design cases. Design results show that the present method can significantly improve the aerodynamic performance due to its capability to handle large shape changes of the airfoil. This work provides a useful and powerful tool to aerodynamic design with applications to various flight vehicles.