Efficient aerodynamic design through evolutionary programming and support vector regression algorithms

The shortening of the design cycle and the increase of the performance are nowadays the main challenges in aerodynamic design. The use of evolutionary algorithms (EAs) seems to be appropriate in a preliminary phase, due to their ability to broadly explore the design space and obtain global optima. Evolutionary algorithms have been hybridized with metamodels (or surrogate models) in several works published in the last years, in order to substitute expensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. In this paper, an advanced approach for the aerodynamic optimization of aeronautical wing profiles is proposed, consisting of an evolutionary programming algorithm hybridized with a support vector regression algorithm (SVMr) as a metamodel. Specific issues as precision, dataset training size and feasibility of the complete approach are discussed and the potential of global optimization methods (enhanced by metamodels) to achieve innovative shapes that would not be achieved with traditional methods is assessed.