SCOOT: Sensitivity Class with Overloaded Operator Types

New classes are derived to extend C++ type (double) and classes (e.g. Coordinate and Vector) with operator and function overloading in order to automatically calculate and manage analytic sensitivities (the first derivative) with respect to any number of design (i.e. independent) variables. Given an existing analysis code in C or C++, the enhanced code with sensitivity classes appears remarkably similar. The difference is only apparent with type declarations. The target application of this development is efficient and dependency-managed geometric shape sensitivities in support of gradient-based design optimization. With SCOOT (Sensitivity Class with Operator Overloaded Types), design sensitivities can be rapidly programmed for both objective and constraint gradients. The versatility is demonstrated here with aerodynamic shape sensitivities based on the vortex lattice method.