On Design of Transonic Fan Rotors by 3D Inverse Design Method

Author(s):  
Peixin Hu ◽  
Mehrdad Zangeneh ◽  
Benjamin Choo ◽  
Mohammad Rahmati

The application of 3D inverse design to transonic fans can offer designers many advantages in terms of reduction in design time and providing a more direct means of using the insight obtained into flow physics from CFD computations directly in the design process. A number of papers on application of inverse design method to transonic fans have already been reported. However, in order to apply this approach in product design a number of issues need to be addressed. For example, how can the method be used to affect and control the fan rotor characteristics? The robustness of the method and its ability to deal with accurate representation of leading and trailing edges, as well as tip clearance flow. In this paper the further enhancement of the 3D viscous transonic inverse design code TURBOdesign-2 and its application to the re-design of NASA37 and NASA67 rotors will be described. In this inverse design method the blade geometry can be computed by the specification of the blade loading (meridional derivative of rVθ) or the pressure loading. In both cases the blade normal thickness is specified to ensure structural integrity of the design. Improvements to the code include implementation of full approximation storage (FAS) multigrid technique in the solver, which increases the speed of the computation. This method allows the modification of blade thickness and pressure loading by B-splines. In addition improvements have been made in the treatment of proper leading edge geometry. Two well known examples of NASA 67 and NASA 37 rotors are used to provide a step-by-step guide to the application of the method to the design of transonic fan rotors. Improved designs are validated by commercial CFD code CFX.

Author(s):  
Yujie Zhu ◽  
Yaping Ju ◽  
Chuhua Zhang

Most of the inverse design methods of turbomachinery experience the shortcoming where the target aerodynamic parameters need to be manually specified depending on the designers’ experience and insight, making the design result aleatory and even deviated from the real optimal solution. To tackle this problem, an experience-independent inverse design optimization method is proposed and applied to the redesign of a compressor cascade airfoil in this study. The experience-independent inverse design optimization method can automatically obtain the target pressure distribution along the cascade airfoil through the genetic algorithm, rather than through the manual specification approach. The shape of cascade airfoil is then solved by the adjoint method. The effectiveness of the experience-independent inverse design optimization method is demonstrated by two inverse design cases of the compressor cascade airfoil, i.e. the inverse design of only the suction surface and the inverse design of both the suction and pressure surfaces. The results show that the proposed inverse design method is capable of significantly improving the aerodynamic performance of the compressor cascade. At the examined flow condition, a thin airfoil profile is beneficial to flow accelerations near the leading edge and flow separation avoidance near the trailing edge. The proposed inverse design method is quite generic and can be extended to the three-dimensional inverse design of advanced compressor blades.


Author(s):  
H. Watanabe ◽  
M. Zangeneh

The application of sweep in the design of transonic fans has been shown to be an effective method of controlling the strength and position of the shock wave at the tip of transonic fan rotors, and the control of corner separations in stators. In rotors sweep can extend the range significantly. However, using sweep in conventional design practice can also result in a change in specific work and therefore pressure ratio. As a result, laborious iterations are required in order to recover the correct specific work and pressure ratio. In this paper, the blade geometry of a transonic fan is designed with sweep using a 3D inverse design method in which the blade geometry is computed for a specified distribution of blade loading. By comparing the resulting flow field in the conventionally and inversely designed swept rotors, it is shown that it is possible to apply sweep without the need to iterate to maintain pressure ratio and specific work when using the inverse method.


Author(s):  
J. C. Pa´scoa ◽  
A. C. Mendes ◽  
L. M. C. Gato

This paper presents the results of the aerodynamic redesign of an annular turbine blade row. The inverse method herein applied is an extension to 3D of an iterative inverse design method based on the imposition of the blade load, thickness distribution and stacking line. We define a mass-averaged mean tangential velocity over one blade pitch, ru¯θ, as the main design variable, since its derivative is related to the aerodynamic load. A time-lagged formulation for the 3D camber surface generator is given in order to include the blade thickness distribution into the design algorithm. The hybrid viscous-inviscid design code comprises three main components: the blade update algorithm; a fast inviscid 3D Euler code; and a viscous analysis code. The blade geometry and flow conditions are typical of LP turbine nozzle guide vanes. The design method will demonstrate its ability to redesign blade rows that achieve lower flow losses and a more uniform exit flow angle distribution. The performance of the new blades is checked by means of a Navier-Stokes computation using the κ–ε turbulence model. The presented results show a minor decrease in the losses and a better redistribution of the exit flow angle.


Author(s):  
Benjamin M. F. Choo ◽  
Mehrdad Zangeneh

An aerodynamics inverse design method for turbomachinery blades using fully (adaptive) unstructured meshes is presented. In this design method, the pressure loading (i.e. pressure jump across the blades) and thickness distribution are prescribed. The design method then computes the blade shape that would accomplish this loading. This inverse design method is implemented using a cell-centred finite volume method which solves the Euler equations on Delaunay unstructured triangular meshes using upwind flux vector splitting scheme. The analysis/direct Euler solver first is validated against some test cases of cascades flow. Computational grid and solution adaptation is performed to capture any flow behaviors such as shock waves using some error indicators. In the inverse design method, blade geometry is updated at the end of each design iteration process. A flexible and fast remeshing process based on a classical ‘spring’ methodology is adopted. An improved spring smoothing methodology for large changes of blades geometry is also presented. This flexible remeshing method can be used in designing a real blade (i.e. round leading and trailing edge) and also ‘fat’ turbine blades with blunt leading and trailing edge. The inverse design method using unstructured triangular meshes is validated by regeneration of a generic compressor rotor blade geometry subjected to a specified pressure loading and blade thickness. Finally, the method is applied to the design of the tip section of Nasa Rotor 67. The result shows that the design method is very useful in controlling shock waves.


2010 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benedikt Roidl ◽  
Wahid Ghaly

The midspan section of a low speed subsonic turbine stage that is built and tested at DFVLR, Cologne, is redesigned using a new inverse blade design method, where the blade walls move with a virtual velocity distribution derived from the difference between the current and target pressure distributions on the blade surfaces. This new inverse method is fully consistent with the viscous flow assumption and is implemented into the time-accurate solution of the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations. An algebraic Baldwin–Lomax turbulence model is used for turbulence closure. The mixing plane approach is used to couple the stator and rotor regions. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis formulation is first assessed against the turbine stage experimental data. The inverse formulation that is implemented in the same CFD code is assessed for its robustness and merits. The inverse design method is then used to study the effect of the rotor pressure loading on the blade shape and stage performance. It is also used to simultaneously redesign both stator and rotor blades for improved stage performance. The results show that by carefully tailoring the target pressure loading on both blade rows, improvement can be achieved in the stage performance.


Author(s):  
Hiroyoshi Watanabe ◽  
Hidenobu Okamoto ◽  
Shijie Guo ◽  
Akira Goto ◽  
Mehrdad Zangeneh

In this second report, a new aerodynamic design is presented for a radial turbine stage of a microturbine engine. To optimize three-dimensional (3-D) flows, an inverse design method, in which 3-D blade geometry is numerically obtained for specified blade loading distribution, has been applied together with numerical assessment using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and FEM (Finite Element Method). The runner blade profile along the hub surface was modified to attain nearly radially arranged blade elements especially at the exducer part of the radial turbine in order to achieve required structural strength. Also the blade thickness distribution was optimized to avoid vibration resonance and to meet creep strength requirements. The blade profile along the shroud surface was optimized via 3-D inverse design and CFD. CFD predicted aerodynamic performance of the modified turbine runner was confirmed to be similar to that of the fully 3-D blade shape, while maintaining structural reliability. The turbine nozzle also has been re-designed by using the inverse design method, with stage performance improvements confirmed by stage calculations using CFD.


Author(s):  
Benedikt Roidl ◽  
Wahid Ghaly

The midspan section of a low speed subsonic turbine stage that is built and tested at DFVLR, Cologne, is redesigned using a new inverse blade design method where the blade walls move with a virtual velocity distribution derived from the difference between the current and the target pressure distributions on the blade surfaces. This new inverse method is fully consistent with the viscous flow assumption and is implemented into the time accurate solution of the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations. An algebraic Baldwin-Lomax turbulence model is used for turbulence closure. The mixing plane approach is used to couple the stator and the rotor regions. The CFD analysis formulation is first assessed against the turbine stage experimental data. The inverse formulation that is implemented in the same CFD code is also assessed for its robustness and merits. The inverse design method is then used to study the effect of the rotor pressure loading on the blade shape and stage performance. It is also used to simultaneously redesign both stator and rotor blades for improved stage performance. The results show that by carefully tailoring the target pressure loading on both blade rows, improvement can be achieved in the stage performance.


Author(s):  
Duccio Bonaiuti ◽  
Abeetha Pitigala ◽  
Mehrdad Zangeneh ◽  
Yansheng Li

In the present paper, the redesign of a transonic rotor was performed by means of a three-dimensional viscous inverse design method. The inverse approach used in this work is one where the pressure loading, blade thickness distribution and stacking axis are specified and the camber surface is calculated accordingly. The design of transonic and supersonic axial compressors strongly relies on the ability to control the shock strength, location and structure. The use of an inverse design method allows one to act directly on aerodynamic parameters, like the blade loading, and provides an efficient tool to control the shock wave and its interaction with the boundary and secondary flows and with the tip clearance vortex. In the present study, the parametric investigation of the blade loading distribution was carried out. Few design parameters, with immediate physical meaning, were required to control the three-dimensional blade loading, and their impact on the design and off-design performance of the rotor was assessed by means of CFD calculations. Further investigations were then performed in order to study the impact on the rotor performance of the geometrical parameters (meridional channel and thickness distribution), which must be imposed in the design with the inverse method. As a result, it was possible to develop guidelines for the aerodynamic design of transonic rotors that can be exploited for similar design applications.


Author(s):  
R. W. Westra ◽  
N. P. Kruyt ◽  
H. W. M. Hoeijmakers

The development of an inverse-design method for the impellers of centrifugal pumps is presented. The flow inside the impeller channel is assumed to be irrotational, inviscid and incompressible. With the inverse-design method infinitely-thin impeller blades can be designed for a given meridional geometry and design conditions. The main design parameter is the mean-swirl distribution, which is specified from leading edge to trailing edge and from hub to shroud. The flow in the impeller channel is solved using the Finite Element Method, employing the mean-swirl distribution as a boundary condition. The blade shape is changed iteratively until the blade impenetrability condition is fulfilled. The method has been verified by considering a case for which an analytical solution is available and by reconstruction of an existing geometry, with known characteristics, using the inverse-design method. As an application of the method a mixed-flow impeller has been designed and the effect of changing the mean-swirl distribution on the resulting blade shape is clearly demonstrated.


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