Optimization of the target pressure distribution and inverse design of an axial turbine blade

Abstract

The most critical step in designing a turbomachine is to design the blades. In this study, an axial turbine blade is designed using an inverse design method called Ball-Spine Algorithm. In some cases, the target pressure distribution is not specified in the inverse design process, and it has to be determined arbitrarily by the designer. This study is conducted in order to compute the optimal target pressure distribution by maximizing the cascade blade efficiency. Optimization is carried out using the Genetic Algorithm. Two commercial software packages, ANSYS and MATLAB, are used in this research. Since inverse design is an iterative process, these software packages are linked together to execute the whole procedure automatically. Validation of the approach is accomplished by redesigning an existing blade. Then the optimization method is applied, and the desired blade is inversely designed. Results show that the cascade blade efficiency increases by about 9% on average for this blade.