CFD Analysis and Shape Optimization of NACA0012 Airfoil for Different Mach Numbers

Multidisciplinary design optimization techniques become more and more applied in the field of aerodynamics due to the rapid development of computers high-performance, numerical methods and optimization algorithms. These techniques coupled with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), which aims to incorporate mathematical relations and algorithms to analyze and solve fluid flow problems, involve the use of those numerical methods and algorithms to improve the fluid flow solutions. CFD analysis of an airfoil determines its ability by producing results such as lift and drag forces, and the application of an optimization algorithm involves improving the shape of this airfoil in order to manipulate the lift and drag coefficients according to the requirements. In this work, a numerical investigation, using ANSYS/Fluent, of two-dimensional transonic flow over a NACA 0012 airfoil was conducted at various Mach numbers and compared with the provided experimental data. The flow to be considered is compressible and turbulent and the solver used is the density based implicit solver, which gives good results for high speed compressible flows. Then a shape optimization algorithm, based on a Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm, was used in order to obtain an improved performance control of the aerodynamic coefficients of the optimized airfoil.