Shock control bumps (SCB) are a transonic flow control device that aim to reduce the
overall drag due to a normal shock on a typical passenger jet at cruise. The concept of adaptive
SCB which can be deployed for best use are investigated through an aero-structural
design tool that produces optimal geometries. The optimizer uses a surface based performance
metric to highlight the importance of the flow quality around the SCB as well
as including a structural element that is required to provide the necessary flexibility to
deform. The performance metric produces the target pressure distribution and successfully
smears the shock. It is found that the structural constraint does not inhibit bump
height and global airfoil performance is not significantly a↵ected, L/D varies < 0.6%. The
aerodynamic pressure loading can be utilised to produce a new family of SCB geometries
that are unachievable with mechanical actuation alone. The study shows that adaptive
SCB that exploit the naturally occurring pressure field around an airfoil in a passive way
are a feasible technology to mitigate the poor o↵-design performance of static SCB.