Non-uniform rational B-splines-based aerodynamic shape design optimization with the DLR TAU code

With the improving capabilities of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for the prediction of aerodynamic performance, CFD tools are now being increasingly used for aerodynamic design optimization in the aerospace industry. In this article, an automated optimization framework is presented to address inviscid aerodynamic design problems. Key aspects of this framework include the use of the continuous adjoint methodology to make the computational requirements independent of the number of design variables, and computer-aided design-based shape parameterization, which uses the flexibility of non-uniform rational B-splines to handle complex configurations.