TY - JOUR AB - As a kind of free (unknown) boundary problem, inverse shape design of airfoils has attracted extensive attention in recent years. By variable‐domain variational theory, free boundary condition can be coupled with the governing equations for flow field, which makes it possible to calculate the flow field with the free boundary simultaneously. In this paper, the variational principle (VP) of 2D airfoil shape design problem is obtained from the basic dimensionless velocity potential equations for 2D compressible flow by using a systematic approach and variable‐domain variational formula. The deformable finite element method based on the VP is used to segmentally design airfoil at two design points (angles of attack) and four design points, respectively. The results show that the present method is highly effective and accurate for solving multipoint inverse problem of airfoils. VL - 76 IS - 4 SN - 0002-2667 DO - 10.1108/00022660410545483 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/00022660410545483 AU - Wu Zhe‐Min AU - Chen Chi AU - Liu Gao‐Lian PY - 2004 Y1 - 2004/01/01 TI - Multipoint inverse shape design of airfoils based on variable‐domain variational principle T2 - Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 376 EP - 383 Y2 - 2024/03/29 ER -