Evaluation of State-of-the-Art Deep Learning Architectures for Aerodynamical Predictions

Surrogate models are used to substitute classical numerical solvers in engineering applications where the computational cost of the latter becomes infeasible.

For instance, in aerodynamics such models offer cost-effective alternatives to computational fluid dynamics in problems such as shape optimization and load analysis, which oftentimes require high-fidelity simulations for a multitude of different parameter combinations.

A specific class of deep learning-based surrogate models termed operator learning models directly approximates the solution operators to the partial differential equations underlying the physical phenomenon, thereby learning to replicate solutions to entire families of problems.

However, while nowadays numerous architectures of this type get published, corresponding benchmark studies remain scarce.

In this article, we advance the study of AI-based surrogate methods by thoroughly benchmarking four state-of-the-art operator learning models on their aptitude for applications in aerospace engineering.

In two experiments, we assess the models' capabilities of predicting the surface pressure distribution on two-dimensional airfoil shapes of varying complexity and on an industrial-scale three-dimensional aircraft configuration.

Thereby, we evaluate the models' abilities to fulfill frequent requirements in aerodynamics such as capturing discontinuities (shocks) in the solutions, scalability towards excessive amounts of mesh points and handling of data scarcity.

Accompanied by a careful analysis, our findings drive forward the field of AI-based surrogate modeling by providing detailed insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the individual architectures, thus allowing to identify priorities for future developments.

In particular the Bi-Stride Multi-Scale Graph Neural Network and Transolver(++) are highlighted as promising surrogate models for aerodynamical applications.