Accurate CFD driven optimization of lifting surfaces for wing-body configuration

A robust and accurate method for the multipoint CFD driven constrained optimization of 2D airfoils for minimum drag, previously developed by the authors, is extended to the optimization of 3D lifting surfaces for wing-body aircraft configurations. The objective is to minimize total drag at fixed lift subject to numerous geometrical and aerodynamical constraints. The optimization method is based on the use of Genetic Algorithms, accurate full Navier-Stokes drag prediction and massive multilevel parallelization of the whole computational framework. The method was applied to the problem of multipoint optimization of wings incorporated into transport-type aircraft configurations, by the example of ARA M-100 wing-body shape (a NASA test case). For the considered class of problems, significant aerodynamic gains have been obtained. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.