Robust Aerodynamic Optimization of Morphing Airfoils for Helicopter Rotor Blades

This paper presents a robust aerodynamic optimization framework for the design of a morphing airfoil for helicopter rotor blades. The adoption of a conformable geometry is considered to cope with the variable flow conditions encountered in forward fight with the objective of increasing the aerodynamic performance on the advancing and retreating sides of the rotor. The optimization framework presented in this work includes a robustness measure of the optimal design, based on the computation of low-order statistics of the fitness function when variations in the operating conditions (arising not only from the assumptions introduced in the models employed in the design stage, but also from the numerous sources of uncertainty present in the realistic world) are considered.