Computational Aerodynamics for Future Aircraft Design

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The aircraft industry faces the twin challenges of rising fuel costs and environmental concerns. Consequently the industry is committed to reducing overall CO2 emissions from aviation by 50% by 2050, which will require a great deal of technological progress. Improving aircraft fuel efficiency can address both rising fuel costs and the need to reduce CO2 emissions and is therefore a high priority in future aircraft design. The research proposed here is aimed at drag reduction through novel unconventional aircraft configurations, innovative aerodynamic concepts, and flow control. It spans both the development of algorithms for aerodynamic and multidisciplinary optimization and their application to unconventional configurations and flow control. The long-term objective is to contribute toward the design of the next generation of aircraft with reduced environmental impact. The short-term objectives are as follows: 1. Development of highly efficient and robust parallel computational fluid dynamics (CFD) algorithms based on the Newton-Krylov-Schur approach with higher-order summation-by-parts operators applicable to the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations (with laminar-turbulent transition prediction) as well as large-eddy and direct numerical simulations of turbulent flows. 2. Development of aerodynamic shape optimization algorithms based on the above CFD algorithms, including adjoint methods, geometry parameterization, global optimization, and multipoint problem formulation, both as a standalone tool and as a component of a multidisciplinary optimization capability. 3. Development of aerostructural optimization algorithms for aircraft design based on both partitioned and monolithic approaches using the above CFD and aerodynamic shape optimization algorithms. 4. Application of the above algorithms to i) development and evaluation of unconventional aircraft concepts, and ii) development and evaluation of active and passive laminar flow control strategies.