Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-178).Introduction: Aerodynamic design optimization has seen significant development over the past decade. Adjoint-based shape design for elliptic systems was first proposed by Pironneau and applied to transonic flow by Jameson . A review of the aerodynamic shape optimization literature and a large list of references is given in. Over the years much technology has been developed, allowing engineers to contemplate applying optimization methods to a wide variety of problems. In the context of structured grids, adjoint-based applications include multipoint, multi-objective airfoil design using compressible Navier-Stokes equations and 3D multipoint design of aircraft configurations using inviscid Euler equations. There have also been significant effort in applying adjoint methods to the unstructured grid setting. In this context, Newman et al., Elliot and Peraire were among the first to develop discrete adjoint approaches for the inviscid Euler equations.by James Ching-ChiPh.D
