Hierarchical kriging model for variable-fidelity surrogate modeling

The efficiency of building a surrogate model for the output of a computer code can be dramatically improved via variable-fidelity surrogate modeling techniques. In this article, a hierarchical kriging model is proposed and used for variable-fidelity surrogate modeling problems. Here, hierarchical kriging refers to a surrogate model of a highfidelity function that uses a kriging model of a sampled lower-fidelity function as a model trend. As a consequence, the variation in the lower-fidelity data is mapped to the high-fidelity data, and a more accurate surrogate model for the high-fidelity function is obtained. A self-contained derivation of the hierarchical kriging model is presented. The proposed method is demonstrated with an analytical example and used for modeling the aerodynamic data of an RAE 2822 airfoil and an industrial transport aircraft configuration. The numerical examples show that it is efficient, accurate, and robust. It is also observed that hierarchical kriging provides a more reasonable mean-squared-error estimation than traditional cokriging. It can be applied to the efficient aerodynamic analysis and shape optimization of aircraft or any other research areas where computer codes of varying fidelity are in use.