Using design of experiments methods for applied computational fluid dynamics: A case study

This article presents an application of design of experiments (DOE) in a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) environment to study forces and moments acting on a missile through various speeds and angles of attack. Researchers employed a four-factor Latin hypercube space-filling design and the Gaussian Process to build a surrogate model of the CFD environment. The surrogate model was used to characterize missile aerodynamic coefficients across the transonic flight regime. The DOE process completed the task with less computational resources than a traditional one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) approach. To validate the surrogate model, specific OFAT angle of attack sweeps were performed. This provided a direct comparison between the Gaussian Process model and OFAT analysis. In most cases, the surrogate computer model was able to accurately capture the nonlinear response variables. Moreover, the surrogate model enabled a dynamic prediction tool that could investigate untested scenarios, a capability not available with OFAT. The DOE process consequently received support from engineers who do not typically use DOE.