Surrogate Aerodynamic Wing Modeling Based on a Multilayer Perceptron

Abstract

The aircraft conceptual design step requires a substantial number of aerodynamic configuration evaluations. Since the wing is the main aircraft lifting element, the focus is on solving direct and reverse design problems. The former could be solved using a low-cost computational model, but the latter is unlikely, even for these models. Surrogate modeling is a technique for simplifying complex models that reduces computational time. In this work, a surrogate aerodynamic model, based on the implementation of a multilayer perceptron (MLP), is presented. The input data consist of geometrical characteristics of the wing and airfoil and flight conditions. Some of the MLP hyperparameters are defined using evolutionary algorithms, learning curves, and cross-validation methods. The MLP predicts the aerodynamic coefficients (drag, lift, and pitching moment) with high agreement with the substituted aerodynamic model. The MLP can predict the aerodynamic characteristics of compressible flow up to 0.6 M. The developed MLP has achieved up to almost 800 times faster in computing time than the model on which it was trained. The application of the developed MLP will enable the rapid study of the effects of changes in various parameters and flight conditions on flight performance, related to the design and modernization of new vehicles.