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AERODYNAMIC SHAPE OPTIMISATION USING DISCRETE ADJOINT & NURBS FOR MESH DEFORMATION

5TH SU2 CONFERENCE, VARENNA, ITALY.

30th September, 2024.

SAI SIDDHARTH SATHYENDRAN

THIAGARAJAR COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

MADURAI, TAMILNADU, INDIA.

Sai Siddharth S (TCE)

5th SU2 CONFERENCE

September 30 – October 2, 2024

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THE MOTIVE

CONSTRAINTS IN FORMULA STUDENT

LIMITED R&D PERIOD

FASTER SIMULATIONS & ITERATIONS

RESTRICTOR

NOSE CONE

Sai Siddharth S (TCE)

5th SU2 CONFERENCE

September 30 – October 2, 2024

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THE STUDY

RBFs

Primarily used for interpolating values between control points.

Global control - Changes at a control point affect the entire mesh, Limited local control.

May affect distant regions unintentionally.

NURBS

Highly efficient for representing complex surfaces.

Offer fine control over specific regions of the geometry using control points and weights.

Very smooth surfaces and deformations, making them ideal for surfaces where smoothness is critical.

Sai Siddharth S (TCE)

5th SU2 CONFERENCE

September 30 – October 2, 2024

4 of 9

OPTIMIZATION PROBLEM

J - Objective Function

Alpha - Design Variables

U - Flow Variables

X - Mesh

WHERE,

TARGET FOR THE STUDY: NURBS AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO RBF

Sai Siddharth S (TCE)

5th SU2 CONFERENCE

September 30 – October 2, 2024

5 of 9

OPTIMIZATION PROBLEM

TARGET FOR THE STUDY: NURBS AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO RBF

MESH

DEFORMATION

SURFACE SENSITIVITY

RANS

SIMULATION

GEOMETRY

DESCRIPTION

NURBS

Sai Siddharth S (TCE)

5th SU2 CONFERENCE

September 30 – October 2, 2024

6 of 9

NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines)

Provides more flexibility and control over mesh deformation than some traditional methods, like Radial Basis Functions (RBFs)

Smoothly deform surfaces while maintaining geometric continuity.

Localized control

Sai Siddharth S (TCE)

5th SU2 CONFERENCE

September 30 – October 2, 2024

7 of 9

PERFORMANCE METRICS

Sai Siddharth S (TCE)

5th SU2 CONFERENCE

September 30 – October 2, 2024

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AIM & DIRECTION OF STUDY

(More closely into MDO workflows)

Incorporating NURBS would increase SU2's compatibility with popular CAD tools (such as CATIA, Rhino, or SolidWorks), which use NURBS extensively.

Creating a Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS) module in SU2 (Stanford University Unstructured) for mesh deformation and aerodynamic shape optimization.

“Unlock Aeronautics”

Sai Siddharth S (TCE)

5th SU2 CONFERENCE

September 30 – October 2, 2024

9 of 9

THANK YOU NOTE.

QUESTIONS?

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Thiagarajar College of Engineering, especially Dr. Manickam mahendran, MIT post doc and Dr. Manikandan Mathur, Professor, IIT Madras for their invaluable guidance and support throughout my journey.

A special thanks to the SU2 Foundation and the organizing committee of the SU2 Conference 2024, including Dr. Thomas D. Economon, Prof. Juan J. Alonso, Dr. Eran Arad, Prof. Piero Colonna, Tim Albring, Dr. Pedro Gomes, Daniel Mayer, Tobias Kattmann, Dr. Nijso Beishuizen, Dr. Marco Fossati, and Dr. Matteo Pini, for their dedication to advancing the field and fostering a collaborative environment that has greatly inspired me.

Sai Siddharth S (TCE)

5th SU2 CONFERENCE

September 30 – October 2, 2024