Aerodynamic optimization and mechanism design of flexible variable camber trailing-edge flap

Trailing-edge flap is traditionally used to improve the takeoff and landing aerodynamic performance of aircraft.In order to improve flight efficiency during takeoff,cruise and landing states,the flexible variable camber trailing-edge flap is introduced,capable of changing its shape smoothly from 50% flap chord to the rear of the flap.Using a numerical simulation method for the case of the GA（W）-2 airfoil,the multi-objective optimization of the overlap,gap,deflection angle,and bending angle of the flap under takeoff and landing configurations is studied.The optimization results show that under takeoff configuration,the variable camber trailing-edge flap can increase lift coefficient by about 8% and lift-to-drag ratio by about 7% compared with the traditional flap at a takeoff angle of 8°.Under landing configuration,the flap can improve the lift coefficient at a stall angle of attack about 1.3%.Under cruise state,the flap helps to improve the lift-todrag ratio over a wide range of lift coefficients,and the maximum increment is about 30%.Finally,a corrugated structure–eccentric beam combination bending mechanism is introduced in this paper to bend the flap by rotating the eccentric beam.

Variable-fidelity optimization with design space reduction

Advanced engineering systems, like aircraft, are defined by tens or even hundreds of design variables. Building an accurate surrogate model for use in such high-dimensional optimization problems is a difficult task owing to the curse of dimensionality. This paper presents a new algorithm to reduce the size of a design space to a smaller region of interest allowing a more accurate surrogate model to be generated. The framework requires a set of models of different physical or numerical fidelities. The low-fidelity （LF） model provides physics-based approximation of the high-fidelity （HF） model at a fraction of the computational cost. It is also instrumental in identifying the small region of interest in the design space that encloses the high-fidelity optimum. A surrogate model is then constructed to match the low-fidelity model to the high-fidelity model in the identified region of interest. The optimization process is managed by an update strategy to prevent convergence to false optima. The algorithm is applied on mathematical problems and a two-dimen-sional aerodynamic shape optimization problem in a variable-fidelity context. Results obtained are in excellent agreement with high-fidelity results, even with lower-fidelity flow solvers, while showing up to 39% time savings.

Aerodynamic Characteristics and Noise Collaborative Optimization of an Airfoil

Aerodynamic noise is the main problem restricting its development nowadays in green energy,ocean engineering and aerospace engineering.In order to limit the aerodynamic noise of an airfoil structure,a method is proposed in this paper by designing low noise airfoils.This method optimized the aerodynamic noise of two-dimensional airfoil,and considered the aerodynamic performance of the airfoil at the same time.Based on Joukowski conformal transformation,airfoil geometry is parameterized firstly.Then,the optimization model taking the lift-to-drag ratio and airfoil self-noise as the design objective,is established to modify the airfoil by active set algorithm until the airfoil can satisfy the design condition.Finally,the noise of the optimized airfoil is verified according to the prediction theory of airfoil noise.Moreover,the relationship between airfoil geometry and noise is analyzed.The results show that the lift-to-drag ratio of the optimized airfoil increased,and the noise also decreased.Thus,the optimization method can be used to address special design of low-noise airfoil.Besides,the optimization method in this paper can provide reference for improving lift-to-drag ratio and reducing noise of the airfoil in aircraft and submarine rudder system.