A Hybrid CNN-Cheby-KAN Framework for Efficient Prediction of Two-Dimensional Airfoil Pressure Distribution

Abstract

The accurate prediction of airfoil pressure distribution is essential for aerodynamic performance evaluation, yet traditional methods such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and wind tunnel testing have certain bottlenecks. This paper proposes a hybrid deep learning model combining a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and a Chebyshev-enhanced Kolmogorov-Arnold Network (Cheby-KAN) for efficient and accurate prediction of the two-dimensional airfoil flow field. The CNN learns 1549 types of airfoils and encodes airfoil geometries into a compact 16-dimensional feature vector, while the Cheby-KAN models complex nonlinear mappings from flight conditions and spatial coordinates to pressure values. Experiments on multiple airfoils--including RAE2822, NACA0012, e387, and mh38--under various Reynolds numbers and angles of attack demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a mean squared error (MSE) on the order of $10^{-6}$ and a coefficient of determination ($R^2$) exceeding 0.999. The model significantly outperforms traditional Multilayer Perceptrons (MLPs) in accuracy and generalizability, with acceptable computational overhead. These results indicate that the hybrid CNN-Cheby-KAN framework offers a promising data-driven approach for rapid aerodynamic prediction.