Nonlinear Surrogate Model Design for Aerodynamic Dataset Generation Based on Artificial Neural Networks

In this work we construct a surrogate model using artificial neural networks (ANN) to predict the steady-state behavior of an unmanned combat aircraft. We employ various strategies to improve the model’s accuracy, including the consideration of design tolerances, creating independent surrogate models for the different flow regimes and encoding non-numeric input features. We also explore alternative machine learning models, albeit they demonstrated a lower reliability than ANNs. Two scenarios are considered for the target variable: one focusing solely on predicting the pitching moment coefficient, and the other incorporating the roll moment coefficient as well. We investigate different methods for handling multiple targets, finding that constructing a single model with multiple outputs consistently outperforms developing separate models for each target variable. Overall, the ANN provides predictions that show excellent agreement with the experimental data, demonstrating its effectiveness and reliability in aerodynamic modeling.