Novel Taguchi-Simulated Annealing Method Applied to Airfoil and Wing Planform Optimization

The well-known Taguchi orthogonal arrays, which involve fractional factorials based on orthogonal tables, are incorporated with the classical simulated annealing to enhance the numerical convergence and accuracy of the optimal solution for linear and nonlinear optimization problems. The novel combination of the classical simulated annealing (SA) and fractional factorial analysis is termed the Taguchi–SA. The performance of the proposed Taguchi–SA method is evaluated by computing several representative global optimization problems, such as a multimodal function, nonlinear dynamic control, and large parameter optimization. The numerical results show that the proposed Taguchi–SA method markedly outperforms the classical SA in solving global optimization problems. Additionally, the proposed method is applied to an airfoil shape design and an optimal wing planform design to examine the effectiveness of the Taguchi–SA method in practical aerodynamic optimization design. The pressure distribution results and aerodynamic data, such as lift, drag, and pitching moment coefficients, clearly indicate that the aerodynamic performance of the present airfoil is better than that of the original. The optimal wing planform obtained by the proposed Taguchi–SA method also enhances the aerodynamic performance of the airplane.