Automatic Aerodynamic Design Through Evolutionary Techniques

This paper is concerned with the presentation of an environment for automatic aerodynamic design. The approach followed in this environment involves three main elements: a search module based on evolution, a decoding module that allows a parametric definition of each solution, and an evaluation module which is based on an aerodynamic simulator. The search module seeks the best solution by means of macroevolutionary techniques and the evaluation module computes the efficiency of each individual by means of an aerodynamic simulator. This paper discusses the application of this environment to the aerodynamic design of wind turbine blades, ship hulls and sails.