Probabilistic Formulation of Multi-Fidelity Aerodynamic Databases (ProForMA)

The design of new aircraft involves understanding the flow physics around the configurations as well as their stability and control characteristics over the entire flight envelope. Such a coverage is extremely expensive if wind tunnel and flight tests are the primary means of understanding the aerodynamic characteristics. Hence, there has been a push towards use of simulations for understanding aerodynamics of airframes early in the design process. However, high-fidelity simulations can quickly become very expensive, so there is a need to create multi-fidelity databases for aerodynamic data. For this purpose, IAI is developing probabilistic aerodynamic databases that not only provide confidence on the fit, but also characterize the sources of uncertainty. Morever, adaptive design of experiments are performed for maximum efficiency in database creation. The proposed ProForMA tool can fill in a critical gap in design optimization and certification tools used by NASA and the industry.