Gradient-based Aerothermodynamic Optimization of a Hypersonic Wing Profile

Aerodynamic shape optimization (ASO) of a hypersonic wing profile has been carried out for the alleviation of the severe aerodynamic heating on the stagnation point. Free-form deformation (FFD) and transfinite interpolation (TFI) are used for parametric modeling and grid deformation. The Navier-Stokes equations, combined with the equations for thermochemical nonequilibrium effect, are solved by an in-house finite volume computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver. Results from the gradient-based optimization show that the values of maximum heat flux are decreased significantly, and the optimized shapes are obviously different for the real gas and perfect gas assumptions. The optimization case indicates that the real gas effects should be taken into consideration in the design process of hypersonic vehicles.