Identification and prediction of unsteady transonic aerodynamic loads by multi-layer functionals

Nonlinear unsteady aerodynamic effects present major modelling difficulties in the analysis and control of aeroelastic response. A rigorous mathematical framework, that can account for the complex nonlinearities and time-history effects of the unsteady aerodynamic response, is provided by the use of functional representations. A recent development, based on functional approximation theory, has achieved a new functional form; namely, multi-layer functionals. The development of a multi-layer functional for discrete-time, finite memory, causal systems has been shown to be realizable via finite impulse response neural networks. Identification of an appropriate temporal neural network model of the nonlinear transonic aerodynamic response is facilitated via a supervised training process using multiple input-output sets, with data obtained by an Euler CFD code. The training process is based on a genetic algorithm to optimize the network architecture, combined with a random search algorithm to update weight and bias values. The approach is examined for two different multiple aerodynamic input-output data sets, and in both cases, the prediction properties of the network model establish the multi-layer functional as a suitable representation of unsteady aerodynamic response. (C) 2001 Academic Press.