Optimization Design of an Blended Wing Body Underwater Glider's Configuration

Abstract

For the blended-wing-body underwater gliders, lift-to-drag ratio which is mainly determined by the profile foils is one of the most important performance parameters. In this paper, GUI functions based on MATLAB code are applied to form an optimization system. Parametric model of the foil are described by Class function/shape function transformation (CST) method. XFOIL, an open-source code is employed to compute the hydrodynamic performance of the profile foils. Genetic algorithm is used to finish the optimization of the foils which derived from the profiles of one original blended-wing-body underwater gliders. The optimization result showed that the lift-to-drag ratio of the profile foils rises up to 36%. By using the optimized foils, the new blended-wing-body underwater glider gets its improvements in maximum lift-to-drag ratio, range of attack angle with high lift-to-drag ratio and payload capacity.