Optimization and Generation in Aerodynamics Inverse Design

Abstract

Aerodynamic inverse design can improve vehicle and aircraft efficiency, but practical design rarely seeks performance alone: vehicle refinement must reduce drag while preserving visual features linked to design language, brand recognition and user perception. Traditional CFD-driven optimization is accurate but slow for broad exploration, and current learning-based methods are still largely performance-driven and lack a coherent target linking optimization, generation and visual consistency. Here we formulate visual preservation and aerodynamic improvement as one probability target. Designs consistent with a reference shape or view define a learned visual design distribution, which is reweighted by aerodynamic cost. Optimization then refines an initial geometry toward a low-cost, high-probability design, whereas guided generation samples lower-cost 3D candidates from the same input view. OpenFOAM evaluation shows that visual-feature-preserving optimization reduces vehicle drag by 5.8\% relative to the initial vehicle and reduces the best valid aircraft drag-to-lift objective by 28.8\% relative to the initial aircraft while preserving input visual features. For view-based generation, guidance reduces vehicle drag by 3.0\% and the aircraft drag-to-lift objective by 68.6\% relative to direct generation from the same view, while maintaining visual consistency. Wind-tunnel tests with 3D-printed vehicle prototypes provide an independent wake-level check, and controlled analyses explain the distributional mechanisms behind these results. This work provides a probabilistic foundation and practical route for visual-feature-preserving aerodynamic refinement and early-stage 3D design exploration.