Aero-Structural Discrete Adjoint Sensitivities and Python Wrapper Developments by patelha57 · Pull Request #1750 · su2code/SU2

patelha57 · 2022-09-05T13:11:46Z

Motivation

Fundamental bottlenecks exist for industrial adoption of high-fidelity physics codes with fully coupled discrete adjoint sensitivity analysis. These bottlenecks include a lack of flexibility, modularity, and robustness of the computational tools, as well as the potential startup development costs needed to implement and verify the MDAO features. The purpose of this work is to facilitate the coupling of SU2 with external structural codes (e.g. NASTRAN, TACS, Airbus structural suite Lagrange) for gradient-based aerodynamic shape and structural sizing optimization using dedicated frameworks (e.g. OpenMDAO).

Startup development costs include the creation of modular tools that are designed to be driven by another framework like OpenMDAO, rather than to drive execution themselves. However, leveraging those MDAO frameworks assumes that software codes and modules to be coupled exist, have appropriate data structures, execution and query APIs, and are wrapped in Python for flexibility and ease of use. The proposed changes were motivated with the goal of making SU2 more modular and flexible, particularly to facilitate its integration into large-scale MDAO frameworks. For more details on the motivation, methodology, and verification & validation results, please refer to our paper from AIAA Aviation 2022.

Proposed Changes

@aa-g and I propose the following code updates:

Implementation of residual-based discrete adjoint solver as CDiscAdjResidualSolver
a. New config option: KIND_DISC_ADJ
Enhancements and standardization of SU2 Python API
a. Add pysu2/pysu2ad methods
b. Standardize Python API and function names
c. Overloaded getter/setter methods to make data handling more flexible

Related Work

These efforts are related to Issue #1262, Pull Request #1300, and Discussion #1325.

PR Checklist

I am submitting my contribution to the develop branch.
My contribution generates no new compiler warnings (try with --warnlevel=3 when using meson).
My contribution is commented and consistent with SU2 style (https://su2code.github.io/docs_v7/Style-Guide/).
I used the pre-commit hook to prevent dirty commits and used pre-commit run --all to format old commits.
I have added a test case that demonstrates my contribution, if necessary.
I have updated appropriate documentation (Tutorials, Docs Page, config_template.cpp), if necessary.

…eanup

…rs/setters

…ith CDriver

Co-authored-by: Nijso <bigfootedrockmidget@hotmail.com>

bigfooted · 2025-06-03T05:49:54Z

If you can add a test in parallel_regression_ad.py and add some kind of tutorial testcase, then it looks good to go for me. Maybe @pcarruscag can chime in and give additional code suggestions

TestCases/py_wrapper/disc_adj_residual_solver/run_adjoint.py

bigfooted · 2026-03-15T09:58:36Z

Hi @patelha57 what is the current status? Would be nice to see a couple of older PR's get merged into develop, especially this one.

patelha57 · 2026-03-15T20:01:11Z

Hi @patelha57 what is the current status? Would be nice to see a couple of older PR's get merged into develop, especially this one.

No additional code development needed from my POV (please correct me if I'm wrong!). Just need to fix these regression tests failures, add example for the residual solver adjoint, and add documentation.

pcarruscag · 2026-03-16T02:15:59Z

SU2_DEF/include/drivers/CDiscAdjDeformationDriver.hpp

+  /*!
+   * \brief Get total sensitivity of the objective function w.r.t. surface coordinates or displacements at mesh
+   * vertices. \return Total sensitivity of the objective function w.r.t. the un-deformed coordinates.
+   */
+  vector<vector<passivedouble>> GetObjectiveCoordinatesTotalSensitivities() const;
+
+  /*!
+   * \brief Get total sensitivity of the objective function w.r.t. surface coordinates or displacements at a mesh
+   * vertex. \param[in] iPoint - Mesh vertex index. \return Total sensitivity of the objective function w.r.t. the
+   * un-deformed coordinates.
+   */
+  vector<passivedouble> GetObjectiveCoordinatesTotalSensitivities(unsigned long iPoint) const;
+
+  /*!
+   * \brief Get total sensitivity of the objective function w.r.t. surface coordinates or displacements at marker
+   * vertices. \param[in] iMarker - Marker identifier. \return Total sensitivity of the objective function w.r.t. the
+   * surface coordinates.
+   */
+  vector<vector<passivedouble>> GetMarkerObjectiveCoordinatesTotalSensitivities(unsigned short iMarker) const;
+
+  /*!
+   * \brief Get total sensitivity of the objective function w.r.t. surface coordinates or displacements at a marker
+   * vertex. \param[in] iMarker - Marker identifier. \param[in] iVertex - Marker vertex index. \return Total sensitivity
+   * of the objective function w.r.t. the surface coordinates.
+   */
+  vector<passivedouble> GetMarkerObjectiveCoordinatesTotalSensitivities(unsigned short iMarker,
+                                                                        unsigned long iVertex) const;
+
+  /*!
+   * \brief Get total sensitivity of the objective function w.r.t. the design variables.
+   * \return Total sensitivity of the objective function w.r.t. the design variables.
+   */
+  vector<vector<passivedouble>> GetObjectiveDesignVariablesTotalSensitivities() const;
+
+  /*!
+   * \brief Get total sensitivity of the objective function w.r.t. a design variable.
+   * \param[in] iDV - Design Variable index.
+   * \return Total sensitivity of the objective function w.r.t. a design variable.
+   */
+  vector<passivedouble> GetObjectiveDesignVariablesTotalSensitivities(unsigned short iDV) const;


This interface is not adequate, there is a better alternative as I've explained before.

You are talking about the matrix view implementation, correct?

Yep, there is a recent example of doing that for another type of container here https://github.com/su2code/SU2/pull/2388/changes

…adjoint

TestCases/py_wrapper/disc_adj_residual_solver/run_adjoint.py

+import sys
+import pysu2ad
+from optparse import OptionParser
+import numpy as np


To fix an unused-import issue, you remove the import statement for the symbol that is never referenced. This eliminates an unnecessary dependency and clarifies which modules are actually required.

Here, the best fix is to delete the line import numpy as np in TestCases/py_wrapper/disc_adj_residual_solver/run_adjoint.py (line 4). No other code in this file refers to np, so no additional changes are needed. This preserves all existing functionality while cleaning up the import list.

WallyMaier and others added 30 commits May 7, 2020 14:20

adding GetStates() function

9491e2b

fixing output + adding GetAIP

92ae46e

adding in area extraction

5146f8d

clearing ninja/meson stuff

e9408c7

adding HYBRID option for AIP averaging

85ba068

adding in Average normal velocity for DA

d2db580

fixing function name

42d9d78

Add methods to set AoA and AoS

68eb015

Add method to get conservative states

1c02df0

Add method to get surface coordinates

b984e67

Add method to get fluid volume coordinates

2d37896

Add method to get flow residuals

8b43265

Merge code from feature_QUAD and resolve conflicts

7b4fcf0

Fix compilation errors, comment out GetAIP()

4239d0c

Add method to get aero forces

1eb61de

Generalize GetConservativeStates() and GetResiduals() for 2D cases

6167cf1

Add method to set conservative states

363f288

Add methods to get flow states and flow residuals at marker, minor cl…

588fa38

…eanup

Add methods to get aero moment coefficients

1d1c062

Implement residual-based DA solver, add pysu2 methods for sensitivites

9842113

Merge small changes

7b3999c

[WIP] Implement dxadua sensitivity

da2933b

Add pysu2 methods for dfa/dua and dxv/dua sens

eb64f51

Add new methods to CDeformationDriver

17c4cd7

[WIP] Consolidate and extend implementation of Python interface gette…

5cc8301

…rs/setters

[WIP] Match implementation of getters/setters in CDeformationDriver w…

440710f

…ith CDriver

Implement element ID and connectivities in Python API

98440d5

[WIP] Corrections to the previous commit

099651d

Fix bugs introduced in previous commits

0828142

Reintroduce sensitivities w.r.t. mesh coordinates

b2f6e1a

patelha57 and others added 5 commits February 26, 2025 20:18

Update dates in CDiscAdjResidualSolver.hpp

96e9cd5

Co-authored-by: Nijso <bigfootedrockmidget@hotmail.com>

Update version in CDiscAdjResidualSolver.hpp

edc9204

Co-authored-by: Nijso <bigfootedrockmidget@hotmail.com>

Merge branch 'develop' into feature_pysu2_fsi_adjoint

d001445

Fix comment formatting

b7f8abb

Merge branch 'develop' into feature_pysu2_fsi_adjoint

0a9acb3

Add regression test for residual-based discrete adjoint solver

16bda26

github-advanced-security bot found potential problems Jun 14, 2025

View reviewed changes

TestCases/py_wrapper/disc_adj_residual_solver/run_adjoint.py Fixed Show fixed Hide fixed

TestCases/py_wrapper/disc_adj_residual_solver/run_adjoint.py Fixed Show fixed Hide fixed

TestCases/py_wrapper/disc_adj_residual_solver/run_adjoint.py Fixed Show fixed Hide fixed

patelha57 and others added 4 commits December 5, 2025 18:55

Merge branch 'develop' into 'feature_pysu2_fsi_adjoint'

0190de1

Update external modules

f887df8

Add residual solver flow solution config

dbb3cb5

Merge branch 'develop' into feature_pysu2_fsi_adjoint

e09daf3

Merge branch 'develop' into 'feature_pysu2_fsi_adjoint'

d73a478

pcarruscag reviewed Mar 16, 2026

View reviewed changes

patelha57 added 7 commits March 26, 2026 16:59

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/develop' into feature_pysu2_fsi_…

9062d58

…adjoint

Update externals/codi and subprojects/MLPCpp to match develop

348ef8b

Add boolean type in CConfig.hpp

a140cfc

Add AD::GetPassiveIndex() in CMeshBoundVariable.cpp

ce51cf4

Fix reference value error in CDiscAdjResidualSolver.cpp

029f3af

Fix build errors with ReverseTagNoMPI

0ceb802

Update NACA testcase files

744d758

github-advanced-security bot found potential problems Mar 27, 2026

View reviewed changes

patelha57 and others added 6 commits March 27, 2026 17:12

Add config option for Quasi-Newton samples

203d153

Fix segfault error in CDiscAdjSinglezoneDriver.cpp

8414aa6

Remove IDE files

c190901

Implement CPyWrapperMatrixView for CDiscAdjDeformationDriver

835d88c

Merge branch 'develop' into feature_pysu2_fsi_adjoint

439d6bd

Implement CPyWrapperMatrixView for python_wrapper_structure.cpp

1d3fb58

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Aero-Structural Discrete Adjoint Sensitivities and Python Wrapper Developments #1750

Aero-Structural Discrete Adjoint Sensitivities and Python Wrapper Developments #1750
patelha57 wants to merge 167 commits intodevelopfrom
feature_pysu2_fsi_adjoint

patelha57 commented Sep 5, 2022 •

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patelha57 commented Sep 5, 2022 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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Motivation

Proposed Changes

Related Work

PR Checklist

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bigfooted commented Jun 3, 2025

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patelha57 commented Sep 5, 2022 •

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