Geometrical shape optimization in fluid mechanics using FreeFem++

Abstract

In this article, we present simple and robust numerical methods for two-dimensional geometrical shape optimization problems, in the context of viscous flows driven by the stationary Navier-Stokes equations at low Reynolds number. The salient features of our algorithm are exposed with an educational purpose; in particular, the numerical resolution of the nonlinear stationary Navier-Stokes system, the Hadamard boundary variation method for calculating the sensitivity of the minimized function of the domain, and the mesh update strategy are carefully described. Several pedagogical examples are discussed. The corresponding program is written in the FreeFem++ environment, and it is freely available. Its chief features—and notably the implementation details of the main steps of our algorithm—are carefully presented, so that it can easily be handled and elaborated upon to deal with different, or more complex physical situations.