An improved inverse method for multirow blades of turbomachinery

Abstract

A three-dimensional viscous inverse design method is improved and extended to multirow blades environment. The inverse method takes load distribution as optimization objective and is implemented into the time-marching finite-volume Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes solver. The camber line of rotor blade is updated by virtual displacement, which is calculated by characteristic compatibility relations according to the difference between target and actual load so as to control the location and intensity of shock wave, and realize the optimization of flow structure and reduction flow separation. The inlet and outlet geometry angles of stator blade are adjusted in real time according to the inlet and outlet flow angles. Thus, it is computationally ensured that the blade row interactions are accounted and optimization process is carried out under the design condition. To preserve the robustness of calculation, the maximum virtual displacement is limited by Y+ <10 and the camber line is smoothed via cubic B-spline interpolation. The complete blade profile is then generated by adding the prescribed blade thickness distribution to the camber line. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated in the optimization of Stage35 compressor stage. Numerical results showed that this inverse method can effectively improve the internal flow structure and optimize the matching between blade rows, and this method is robust, efficient, and flexible.