Aircraft Air Inlet Design Optimization via Surrogate-Assisted Evolutionary Computation

In aviation, the performance impact of auxiliary air inlets used for system ventilation is significant. The flow phenomena and consequently the numerical model, is highly non-linear, leading to a compromise between pressure recovery and drag for a given mass flow condition. This work follows a step-by-step approach which highlights the important issues related to solving such complex optimization problem, using surrogate methods coupled to evolutionary algorithms. Its conclusions can be used as a guideline to similar industrial applications.