| Summary: | Hypersonic flight has been the subject of numerous research studies during the last eight decades. This work aims to optimize the aerodynamic performance of a two-dimensional baseline airfoil (NACA0012) at distinct flight regimes from subsonic to hypersonic speeds. A mission profile has been defined, where four points representing the subsonic, transonic, supersonic, and hypersonic flow conditions have been selected. A framework has been implemented based on high-fidelity RANS computational fluid dynamics simulations. Gradient-based optimizations have been conducted with the objective of minimizing the drag. The optimization results show an overall improvement in aerodynamic performance, including a decrease in the drag coefficient of up to 79.2% when compared to the baseline airfoil. In the end, a morphing strategy has been laid out based on the optimal shapes produced by the optimization.
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