Two dimensional airfoil optimisation using CFD in a grid computing environment

In this paper, a two-dimensional airfoil shape optimisation problem is investigated using CFD within a grid computing environment (GCE) implemented in Matlab. The feature-based parametric CAD tool ProEngineer is used for geometry modelling. The industrial level mesh generation tool Gambit and flow solver Fluent are employed as remote services using the Globus Toolkit as the low level API. The objective of the optimisation problem is to minimize the drag-to-lift coefficient ratio for the given operating condition. A Matlab interface to the design exploration system (OPTIONS) is used to obtain solutions for the problem. The adoption of grid technologies not only simplifies the integration of proprietary software, but also makes it possible to harness distributed computational power in a consistent and flexible manner