Turbine and Compressor Blade Profile Optimization

Interdisciplinary Center of Scientific Computing (IWR)
at the University of Heidelberg, Germany
June, 1996 to July, 1999

Publications

The main motivation for this project was to help lower the immense expenses for finding stable and efficient configurations in turbine and compressor design. To this end, we developed a very fast optimization software for one of the cornerstones of that job, which is the so called S1-streamsurface blading. The software helps finding quasi-3D-dimensional blade shapes promising stability and efficiency over the full presumed working range of the blade. At the same time, constraints arising from aerodynamic, heat transfer, aeromechanical, mechanical and manufacturing considerations are satisfied.

Mathematically, the whole matter is a multiple setpoint optimization problem in two respects: we have a whole family of blade profiles to optimize at a time and each of these blades has to be considered at various operating points. To solve that in a fast and efficient manner, we developed the software OptiMISES closely combining the cascade flow solver MISES with the PRSQP methodology using the following approach:

This project (performed from summer 1996 to summer 1999) has been joint work with Volker Schulz. It has been funded by ABB Power Generation Ltd, Baden, Switzerland, MTU Motoren und Turbinen Union GmbH, Munich and the German Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Technology (BMBF) under grant number 032741A within the German research effort «Arbeitsgemeinschaft Hochtemperatur-Gasturbine».