High-fidelity aerodynamic and aerostructural optimization with application to variable camber wings

该项目解决了当前飞机工业的两个重要需求。首先是在燃料成本上升和环境担忧加剧的推动下，需要提高燃料效率和减少排放。这反过来又推动了对提高燃油效率的创新战略的考虑，包括主动流量控制、非传统飞机配置和可变几何机翼，仅举几例。该项目将研究可变几何形状的机翼，以期对它们进行优化，从而定量地确定通过这一概念可以实现的好处。此外，飞机工业需要先进的设计方法，包括气动设计、结构设计和多学科设计。由于上述对新的先进技术的兴趣，包括非常规飞机配置，这种需求尤其迫切，现有的设计经验和经验相关性有限或根本不存在。该项目将推进气动外形优化和气动结构优化的最新水平，从而为行业合作伙伴提供设计下一代省油和环保飞机所需的方法。此外，这些新开发的方法将被应用于可变弧度机翼的研究，这种机翼有可能减少阻力，从而减少排放。

This project addresses two important needs in the current aircraft industry. The first is the need to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions, driven by the rising cost of fuel and increased environmental concerns. This in turn drives consideration of innovative strategies for improving fuel efficiency, including active flow control, unconventional aircraft configurations, and variable geometry wings, to name a few. This project will investigate variable-geometry wings with a view to optimizing them and thereby determining quantitatively the benefits that can be realized through this concept. In addition, the aircraft industry has a need for advanced methodologies for design, including aerodynamic design, structural design, and multidisciplinary design. This need is particularly acute as a result of the aforementioned interest in novel advanced technologies, including unconventional aircraft configurations, where the existing design experience and empirical correlations are limited or nonexistent. This project will advance the state of the art in aerodynamic shape optimization and aerostructural optimization, thereby providing the industry partner with the methodologies needed to design the next generation of fuel efficient and environmentally friendly aircraft. Moreover, these newly developed methodologies will be applied to an investigation of variable-camber wings, which have the potential to reduce drag and hence emissions.