Adjoint-based aeroelastic optimization with high-fidelity time-accurate analysis

Abstract

A methodology is proposed for adjoint-based sensitivities of steady and time-accurate aeroelastic analysis with high-fidelity models based on computational fluid dynamics and structural finite element modeling. The proposed methodology allows for aerodynamic, structural, and aeroelastic constraints to be formulated, and expressions for sensitivities with respect to aerodynamic, structural, and geometric design variables are derived and verified. Additionally, two types of explicit aeroelastic constraints are presented: flutter constraints based on the matrix pencil method and gust response constraints based on the field velocity method. Optimizations based on the proposed methodology and explicit aeroelastic constraints are demonstrated with two-dimensional and three-dimensional aerospace problems.