Aerodynamic optimization of unstructured meshes with viscous effects

A method is presented for performing lift-constrained drag minimization based on the 3D Euler equations and the 2D laminar Navier-Stokes equations. For the 3D Euler equations, the optimization system is based on a flow analysis scheme which uses gradients calculated on an elemental basis. For the 2D Navier-Stokes system, a change was made in the flow analysis scheme to one based on gradients calculated using a finite volume approach due to the fact that this scheme has drastically reduced memory costs associated with the storage of the residual jacobian, and allows direct extension to 3D Navier Stokes. Optimization exercises are presented which demonstrate the effectiveness of the optimization system in finding credible optimal geometries. 1 Introduction Optimization based on the Euler equations is a useful capability for performing inverse pressure design of aerodynamic bodies especially for high Reynolds number flows where boundary layers are thin and the decambering associated with...