Aerodynamic Optimization Under a Range of Operating Conditions

In aerodynamic design, good performance is generally required under a range of operating conditions, including off-design conditions. This can be achieved throughmultipoint optimization. The desired performance objective and operating conditions must be specified, and the resulting optimization problemmust be solved in such amanner that the desired performance is achieved. Issues involved in formulatingmultipoint optimization problems are discussed. A technique is proposed for automatically choosing sampling points within the operating range and their weights to obtain the desired performance over the range of operating conditions. Examples are given involving lift-constrained dragminimization over a range ofMach numbers. Tradeoffs and their implications for the formulation ofmultipoint problems are presented and discussed.