{"id":22630,"date":"2025-10-22T12:43:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aerospacerepository.org\/?p=22630"},"modified":"2025-10-22T12:43:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:43:27","slug":"adjoint-based-aerodynamic-shape-optimisation-for-three-dimensional-hypersonic-configurations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aerospacerepository.org\/index.php\/2025\/10\/22\/adjoint-based-aerodynamic-shape-optimisation-for-three-dimensional-hypersonic-configurations\/","title":{"rendered":"Adjoint-Based Aerodynamic Shape Optimisation for Three-Dimensional Hypersonic Configurations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Reece OTTO, Kyle DAMM, Rowan GOLLAN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>DOI Number: N\/A<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conference number: HiSST-2025-259<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The design of hypersonic airbreathing vehicles involves tightly coupled aerodynamics and propulsion, creating complex design spaces that are most effectively navigated using numerical optimisation techniques. However, achieving high-fidelity, many-parameter optimisation in three dimensions remains difficult while also maintaining efficiency and robustness. To address this challenge, this paper presents an adjoint-based aerodynamic shape optimisation (ASO) framework for three-dimensional hypersonic configurations. The framework integrates high-fidelity CFD analysis, adjoint-based sensitivity evaluation, and a two-level free-form deformation (FFD) parameterisation strategy. The method is demonstrated through the optimisation of a hypersonic lifting-body configuration subject to an internal payload constraint. The configuration was simulated using Reynolds-Averaged Navier\u2013Stokes (RANS) equations and parameterised with 121 design variables. The optimisation required just over four days of runtime on a workstation and achieved a 21.8% improvement in lift-to-drag ratio. Geometric and flow field analyses revealed a reduced frontal area, a slenderised forebody, and waverider-like shock attachment<br>that improved aerodynamic efficiency and weakened side vortices. These results highlight the capability of adjoint-based methods to deliver efficient, high-fidelity optimisation of complex three-dimensional hypersonic vehicles, representing a step toward practical many-variable design studies in this regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/aerospacerepository.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/HISST2025_259_paper.pdf\">Read the full paper here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><b>Reece OTTO, Kyle DAMM, Rowan GOLLAN<\/b><\/p>\n<p>DOI Number: N\/A<\/p>\n<p>Conference number: HiSST-2025-259<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[993,3367,3361],"tags":[1967,3500,442,546],"class_list":["post-22630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","category-high-speed-aerodynamics-and-aerothermodynamics-with-application-to-hypersonic-regimes","category-1-hisst-2025","tag-adjoint-method","tag-aerodynamic-shape-optimisation","tag-cfd","tag-hypersonics","category-993","category-3367","category-3361","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aerospacerepository.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aerospacerepository.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aerospacerepository.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aerospacerepository.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aerospacerepository.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aerospacerepository.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22632,"href":"https:\/\/aerospacerepository.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22630\/revisions\/22632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aerospacerepository.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aerospacerepository.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aerospacerepository.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}