LSDO Lab
Methods

Differentiable surface and volume mesh deformation

Context
Aircraft shape optimization requires analysis meshes to follow changes in component shape and position.
Gap
Moving component intersections can distort conforming surface meshes, while remeshing and intersection reconstruction complicate design derivatives.
Research goal
Maintain mesh quality and differentiability through large component motions, supporting aerodynamic optimization of full aircraft configurations.

Selected studies

References
Differentiable full-configuration mesh deformation

Updating aircraft meshes through large, coupled geometry changes

Explicit component parameterizations and implicit signed-distance fields project mesh nodes onto a smooth aircraft surface without recomputing intersection curves. Large-deformation tests assess mesh quality, and a fuel-burn optimization with a 3D panel code demonstrates simultaneous changes in planform, twist, camber, and component placement.

Primary paper

Marius L. Ruh, John T. Hwang. Surface Mesh Deformation for Large-Scale Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of Aircraft Concepts. AIAA AVIATION 2026 Forum, AIAA 2026-4569, 2026.

PDF
Intersection-aware surface-mesh deformation updates the mesh as independently parameterized aircraft components undergo large relative motions. Ruh and Hwang, 2025 [1]
A full aircraft configuration demonstrates differentiable surface-mesh updates during coupled planform, wing-position, and airfoil-shape changes. Ruh and Hwang, 2026 [2]
The side view shows the surface mesh following substantial full-configuration geometry changes without reconstructing component intersections. Ruh and Hwang, 2026 [2]
Side and top views show the aircraft surface mesh following wing translation, wing and tail rotation, and fuselage scaling.
Full-aircraft surface meshes follow large component motions and fuselage scaling, illustrating projection onto the changing outer surface without reconstructing component intersections. [2] Fig. 6, Fig. 7

References

  1. Marius L. Ruh, John T. Hwang. Differentiable Surface Mesh Deformation for Non-Conformal, Independently Parameterized Components with Large Shape Changes. AIAA AVIATION FORUM AND ASCEND 2025, 2025.
    DOIPDF
  2. Marius L. Ruh, John T. Hwang. Surface Mesh Deformation for Large-Scale Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of Aircraft Concepts. AIAA AVIATION 2026 Forum, AIAA 2026-4569, 2026.
    PDF
  3. Marius L. Ruh, Michael Warner, John T. Hwang. Toward Large-Scale Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of Aircraft With CFD and Mixed-Fidelity System Models. AIAA SCITECH 2025 Forum, 2025.
    DOIPDF

Research connections

Related to Differentiable surface and volume mesh deformation

Methods

Applications

Software

Authors of related work