Chapter 14
Best Practices for Surrogate Based
Uncertainty Quantification in
Aerodynamics and Application to Robust
Shape Optimization
Christian Sabater
Abstract This chapter introduces the use of aerodynamic shape optimization
applied to industrial problems, motivates the use of a robust approach over the
classical deterministic optimization, and presents different alternatives for the
robust-based and reliability-based problems. The use of surrogates for the Uncertainty Quantification of operational and geometrical uncertainties is a cost-effective
solution for high dimensional models if the gradient information is introduced by
means of the adjoint method. Finally, the proposed methodology is applied through
the reliability-based optimization of an airfoil under operational uncertainties.
Keywords Aerodynamic robust design · Quantile optimization · Surrogate based
Uncertainty Quantification · CFD
14.1 Introduction
Aerodynamic shape optimization, the improvement the aerodynamic aircraft performance by modifying its external shape, plays a key role to reduce aircraft direct
operating costs, noise and emissions of the greenhouse gases [1]. This is an active
field of research linked to improvements in Computational Fluid Dynamics and the
development of high performance computing capabilities for numerical methods.
C. Sabater ()
German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology,
Braunschweig, Germany
e-mail: Christian.SabaterCampomanes@dlr.de
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Vasile (ed.), Optimization Under Uncertainty with Applications to Aerospace
Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60166-9_14
429
Best Practices for Surrogate Based
Uncertainty Quantification in
Aerodynamics and Application to Robust
Shape Optimization
Christian Sabater
Abstract This chapter introduces the use of aerodynamic shape optimization
applied to industrial problems, motivates the use of a robust approach over the
classical deterministic optimization, and presents different alternatives for the
robust-based and reliability-based problems. The use of surrogates for the Uncertainty Quantification of operational and geometrical uncertainties is a cost-effective
solution for high dimensional models if the gradient information is introduced by
means of the adjoint method. Finally, the proposed methodology is applied through
the reliability-based optimization of an airfoil under operational uncertainties.
Keywords Aerodynamic robust design · Quantile optimization · Surrogate based
Uncertainty Quantification · CFD
14.1 Introduction
Aerodynamic shape optimization, the improvement the aerodynamic aircraft performance by modifying its external shape, plays a key role to reduce aircraft direct
operating costs, noise and emissions of the greenhouse gases [1]. This is an active
field of research linked to improvements in Computational Fluid Dynamics and the
development of high performance computing capabilities for numerical methods.
C. Sabater ()
German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology,
Braunschweig, Germany
e-mail: Christian.SabaterCampomanes@dlr.de
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Vasile (ed.), Optimization Under Uncertainty with Applications to Aerospace
Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60166-9_14
429