ACCELERATED AIRFOIL OPTIMIZATION VIA VIBRATIONAL GENETIC ALGORITHM

Transonic airfoil optimization is made for drag minimisation through shock wave reduction. In this study, a new approach to genetic algorithms, called Vibrational Genetic Algorithm (VGA), is used for transonic airfoil optimization. Vibration concept, proposed for real coded genetic algorithm, is based on the idea that the population is spread out over the design space periodically to make exploration/exploitation of the genetic algorithm more effective. Therefore, GA makes less function evaluation to get the target solution. Vibrational Mutation technique resulting from Vibration concept, and the method of Vibrational Genetic Algorithm, which uses this technique, are detailed. The method is shown to be effective in airfoil optimization for transonic viscous flow conditions and considerably decreased the CFD calculations.