A shape design model that reduces the amount of noise radiated from aircraft turbofan engines is studied in this paper. The model is formulated as shape control of the Helmholtz equation with radiation boundary conditions on part of the boundary and incoming waves specified as the source. Existence of optimal shape is proved to show that the model is appropriately established. A numerical experiment is conducted to demonstrate the efficiency of the model. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.