Patent Document ID: 20130282629
Application ID: 13850628
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented method for predicting whether a point on a computer-generated aircraft or vehicle surface is adjacent to laminar or turbulent fluid flow, the method comprising: (a) obtaining a plurality of boundary-layer properties, including coefficient weights of mode-based profile descriptions, at the point on the computer-generated aircraft or vehicle surface using a steady-state solution of a fluid flow in a region adjacent to the point; (b) obtaining a plurality of instability modes, wherein one or more mode parameters define each instability mode; (c) obtaining a vector of regressor weights of known instability growth rates in a training dataset; (d) for each instability mode in the plurality of instability modes: i. determining a covariance vector comprising the covariance of a predicted local growth rate for the point with respect to each of the known instability growth rates in the training dataset; ii. determining a predicted local growth rate at the point for the instability mode using the vector of regressor weights and the covariance vector; and (e) determining an n-factor envelope at the point for the plurality of instability modes using the predicted local growth rates, wherein the n-factor envelope is indicative of whether the point is adjacent to laminar or turbulent flow.