Advanced Aerodymanic Analysis for the ASTROS Environment

The technical objective of this work is to develop an ASTROS compatible module that is capable of providing reliable static subsonic and supersonic airloads (the AIRFC matrix), and sensitivities of airloads (the AIC matrix) for complex aerodynamic configurations using state-of-the-art CFD techniques. The module will be compatible with requirement to run ASTROS on a workstation by performing the actual CFD-like computations prior to the workstation optimization analysis. The results of the CFD-like computations will be stored in an efficient manner so as to be rapidly inputted to ASTROS at runtime. The elements that distinguish our proposal are: Direct non-linear computation of aerodynamic sensitivities. We derive the sensitivity equation as a Partial Differential Equation directly from the Navier-Stokes (with turbulence models) and solve it. This reduces the computational requirements. Common Calculations. We discovered that there are many subcalculation steps that are common to the calculation of sensitivities with respect to different parameters. This allows a significant savings in calculation time. Storage of Sensitivities. It is essential to be able to store the results on pre-calculations on Cray's (or other machines) in a way that will enable interpolation to different Mach number/Angle of attack requirements that will occur in the optimization process. We offer a unique technical solution to this problem.