Aerodynamic Optimisation of a Realistic Aircraft Wing

This paper presents an extended use of the NURBS paradigm for the efcient parametrization of a realistic aircraft wing, to represent a complex three-dimensional wing surface in terms of a relatively small set of design variables. The aim is to illustrate the method using NURBS geometric representation of a wing surface satisfying manufacturing constraints and its use in the r st stage of aerodynamic design. The paper describes a methodology for providing a smooth geometry and demonstrates the potential of such approach in an inverse design problem.