Optimization of Helicopter Air Intake Scoop Design

In this paper, a global optimization technique based on the Adaptive Response Surface Method (ARSM) is integrated with a Control Volume Finite Element Method (CVFEM) for thermofluid optimization. The objective of the optimization is to improve the thermal effectiveness of an aircraft de-icing strategy by re-designing the cooling bay surface shape. By optimizing objective function in terms of the de-icing strategy and shape of the intake scoop, the best performance of the helicopter engine is achieved. This design problem is implemented on two different physical models. One model involves a heat conduction finite element analysis (FEA) process and the other combines the heat conduction and potential fluid flow FEA processes. Based on the comparison between the ARSM predicted results and the plotted objective function, it is observed that the integrated technique provides an effective method for thermofluid optimization. It also shows that the ARSM has a good flexibility to work with the computationally intensive process, e.g. CVFEM, and, potentially, could be developed and applied to the multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) due to its open structure.