Computational algorithms for aerodynamic analysis and design (Q1318377)

The first part of this paper presents a study of upwind biasing, artificial diffusion, and multigrid acceleration. The analysis leads to a construction of flux-limited dissipation for multi-dimensional structured and unstructured meshes. The aim of this work is to develop schemes which treat convection with a minimum amount of artificial diffusion. The second part examines the question of automatic design. Here it is suggested that there are benefits to be gained by regarding the problem as the optimal control of a system governed by the partial differential equations of the flow, with boundary control implemented by movement of the boundary. This brings the problem within the framework of the theory of control of systems governed by partial differential equations, as it has been developed by J. L. Lions. Some results of a feasibility study for transonic airfoil design are presented. Since the flow must be repeatedly recalculated, it is essential to minimize the computational cost, and a potential flow model was used for this study.