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

该项目解决了当前航空工业的两个重要需求。第一个挑战是，由于燃料成本上升和环境问题增加，需要提高燃料效率和减少排放。这反过来又促使人们考虑提高燃油效率的创新策略，包括主动流动控制、非常规飞机构型和可变几何机翼等。该项目将研究可变几何形状机翼，以便优化它们，从而定量地确定通过这一概念可以实现的效益。此外，飞机工业需要先进的设计方法，包括空气动力学设计、结构设计和多学科设计。由于上述对新的先进技术的兴趣，包括非传统的飞机构型，这种需要特别迫切，因为现有的设计经验和经验相关性是有限的或不存在的。该项目将推进气动外形优化和气动结构优化领域的最新技术，从而为行业合作伙伴提供设计下一代燃油效率和环境友好型飞机所需的方法。此外，这些新发展的方法将应用于变弯度机翼的研究，变弯度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.