Radar Cross Section Based Shape Optimization of Chine Forebody

Chine forebodies are frequently used in high-performance aircraft designs to improve stealth characteristics. However, a good design process requires construction and exploration of design space before finding optimal configuration. In this research, a chine forebody is parameterized through Bezier curves. The control points are varied through the design of experiment (DOE) approach to construct a design space. The radar-cross-section (RCS) of each configuration in design space is evaluated through the potent Computational Electromagnet-ics (CEM) tool. Subsequently, a response surface methodology (RSM) is adopted to find the optimal position of control points. The results indicate a significant reduction in RCS from the baseline case. Around 79.42% reduction in RCS was observed after optimization. The approach/pipeline defined in this paper can be extended to other surfaces with manageable computational cost and complexity.