Optimum NURBS Curve Fitting for Geometry Parameterization of Gas Turbine Blades’ Sections: Part I — Evolutionary Optimization Techniques

Author(s):  
A. Safari ◽  
H. G. Lemu

This paper presents two evolutionary optimization methods: Genetic Algorithm and Differential Evolution, aimed at optimizing the location of a set of NURBS control points that are used to calculate the NURBS points for leading edge, trailing edge, suction side and pressure side of an airfoil shape. The approach is illustrated on point cloud of several 2D sections of a typical gas turbine compressor blade, so that the results can be used for both reverse engineering purposes and geometry parameterization in airfoil aerodynamic shape optimization process. The optimization algorithms in this research are based on minimization of an analytical error function related to the distance between the fitted curve and original data points. Finally, the obtained results from these two techniques are compared with each other to distinguish the advantages and disadvantages of each method for such curve fitting problems.

Author(s):  
A. Safari ◽  
H. G. Lemu

In part I of this study an optimum NURBS curve fitting by two evolutionary optimization techniques was successfully designed. These methods were implemented to optimize the location of a set of NURBS control points for the measured point cloud of four segments of a gas turbine compressor airfoil shape. The purpose of the optimization was to demonstrate the good ability of evolutionary techniques, in particular Genetic Algorithms, in optimizing such curve fitting problems. The objective of part II is to examine two alternative solutions for NURBS curve fitting of the same airfoil point cloud with swarm intelligence optimization technique. Indeed, the same work has been done by applying two basically different optimization approaches that is Particle Swarm Optimization and Invasive Weed Optimization. Results allow seeing a number of advantages as well as some disadvantages in this optimum curve fitting approach in comparison to the previous techniques applied by authors.


2007 ◽  
Vol 2007 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shijie Guo

This paper demonstrates the investigations on the blade vibration of a radial inflow micro gas turbine wheel. Firstly, the dependence of Young's modulus on temperature was measured since it is a major concern in structure analysis. It is demonstrated that Young's modulus depends on temperature greatly and the dependence should be considered in vibration analysis, but the temperature gradient from the leading edge to the trailing edge of a blade can be ignored by applying the mean temperature. Secondly, turbine blades suffer many excitations during operation, such as pressure fluctuations (unsteady aerodynamic forces), torque fluctuations, and so forth. Meanwhile, they have many kinds of vibration modes, typical ones being blade-hub (disk) coupled modes and blade-shaft (torsional, longitudinal) coupled modes. Model experiments and FEM analysis were conducted to study the coupled vibrations and to identify the modes which are more likely to be excited. The results show that torque fluctuations and uniform pressure fluctuations are more likely to excite resonance of blade-shaft (torsional, longitudinal) coupled modes. Impact excitations and propagating pressure fluctuations are more likely to excite blade-hub (disk) coupled modes.


2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fariborz Forghan ◽  
Omid Askari ◽  
Uichiro Narusawa ◽  
Hameed Metghalchi

Turbine blades are cooled by a jet flow from expanded exit holes (EEH) forming a low-temperature film over the blade surface. Subsequent to our report on the suction-side (low-pressure, high-speed region), computational analyses are performed to examine the cooling effectiveness of the flow from EEH located at the leading edge as well as at the pressure-side (high-pressure, low-speed region). Unlike the case of the suction-side, the flow through EEH on the pressure-side is either subsonic or transonic with a weak shock front. The cooling effectiveness, η (defined as the temperature difference between the hot gas and the blade surface as a fraction of that between the hot gas and the cooling jet), is higher than the suction-side along the surface near the exit of EEH. However, its magnitude declines sharply with an increase in the distance from EEH. Significant effects on the magnitude of η are observed and discussed in detail of (1) the coolant mass flow rate (0.001, 0.002, and 0.004 (kg/s)), (2) EEH configurations at the leading edge (vertical EEH at the stagnation point, 50 deg into the leading-edge suction-side, and 50 deg into the leading-edge pressure-side), (3) EEH configurations in the midregion of the pressure-side (90 deg (perpendicular to the mainstream flow), 30 deg EEH tilt toward upstream, and 30 deg tilt toward downstream), and (4) the inclination angle of EEH.


1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. N. Rajadas ◽  
A. Chattopadhyay ◽  
N. Pagaldipti ◽  
S. Zhang

A multidisciplinary optimization procedure, with the integration of aerodynamic and heat transfer criteria, has been developed for the design of gas turbine blades. Two different optimization formulations have been used. In the first formulation, the maximum temperature in the blade section is chosen as the objective function to be minimized. An upper bound constraint is imposed on the blade average temperature and a lower bound constraint is imposed on the blade tangential force coefficient. In the second formulation, the blade average and maximum temperatures are chosen as objective functions. In both formulations, bounds are imposed on the velocity gradients at several points along the surface of the airfoil to eliminate leading edge velocity spikes which deteriorate aerodynamic performance. Shape optimization is performed using the blade external and coolant path geometric parameters as design variables. Aerodynamic analysis is performed using a panel code. Heat transfer analysis is performed using the finite element method. A gradient based procedure in conjunction with an approximate analysis technique is used for optimization. The results obtained using both optimization techniques are compared with a reference geometry. Both techniques yield significant improvements with the multiobjective formulation resulting in slightly superior design.


Author(s):  
Sarwesh Parbat ◽  
Li Yang ◽  
Minking Chyu ◽  
Sin Chien Siw ◽  
Ching-Pang Lee

Abstract The strive to achieve increasingly higher efficiencies in gas turbine power generation has led to a continued rise in the turbine inlet temperature. As a result, novel cooling approaches for gas turbine blades are necessary to maintain them within the material’s thermal mechanical performance envelope. Various internal and external cooling technologies are used in different parts of the blade airfoil to provide the desired levels of cooling. Among the different regions of the blade profile, the trailing edge (TE) presents additional cooling challenges due to the thin cross section and high thermal loads. In this study, a new wavy geometry for the TE has been proposed and analyzed using steady state numerical simulations. The wavy TE structure resembled a sinusoidal wave running along the span of the blade. The troughs on both pressure side and suction side contained the coolant exit slots. As a result, consecutive coolant exit slots provided an alternating discharge between the suction side and the pressure side of the blade. Steady state conjugate heat transfer simulations were carried out using CFX solver for four coolant to mainstream mass flow ratios of 0.45%, 1%, 1.5% and 3%. The temperature distribution and film cooling effectiveness in the TE region were compared to two conventional geometries, pressure side cutback and centerline ejection which are widely used in vanes and blades for both land-based and aviation gas turbine engines. Unstructured mesh was generated for both fluid and solid domains and interfaces were defined between the two domains. For turbulence closer, SST-kω model was used. The wall y+ was maintained < 1 by using inflation layers at all the solid fluid interfaces. The numerical results depicted that the alternating discharge from the wavy TE was able to form protective film coverage on both the pressure and suction side of the blade. As a result, significant reduction in the TE metal was observed which was up to 14% lower in volume averaged temperature in the TE region when compared to the two baseline conventional configurations.


Author(s):  
E. Go¨ttlich ◽  
L. Innocenti ◽  
A. Vacca ◽  
W. Sanz ◽  
J. Woisetschla¨ger ◽  
...  

Gas turbine design technology requires the development of transonic turbine stages capable of carrying high stage load and of handling hot gas temperatures at turbine inlet. A reliable cooling system is necessary to cope with shocks emanating from preceding blade rows and impinging on the blade especially in the leading edge region. In order to fulfill these requirements researchers at Graz University of Technology have been working on an Innovative Cooling System (ICS) since 1995. The ICS is able to cover large areas of the blade surface with an effective cooling film and to reduce the metal temperature without a shower head cooling arrangement at the leading edge and any trailing edge cooling air ejection. In this paper the authors present a numerical comparison of the ICS to a conventional modern film cooling system both implemented in the same industrial transonic gas turbine blade. An experimental determination of the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness distribution around the blades surface was necessary for the ICS because of its uncommon design. The measurements were done on a cylindrical blade in a linear cascade arrangement. An infrared camera system was used to determine the effectiveness of this newly designed cooling system by measuring the temperature distribution on the blade surface. Then a numerical simulation of heat transfer and of internal and external cooling for the turbine blade at test rig conditions was performed. The ICS showed a lower outer wall temperature distribution of the blade compared to a standard film cooling system. The heavily loaded leading edge as well as the trailing edge are well cooled. Further conclusions on the advantages and disadvantages of the ICS are drawn.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Majid Asli ◽  
Behnam Mashhadi Gholamali ◽  
Abolghasem Mesgarpour Tousi

Aerodynamic performance improvement of wind turbine blade is the key process to improve wind turbine performance in electricity generated and energy conversion in renewable energy sources concept. The flow behavior on wind turbine blades profile and the relevant phenomena like stall can be improved by some modifications. In the present paper, Humpback Whales flippers leading edge protuberances model as a novel passive stall control method was investigated on S809 as a thick airfoil. The airfoil was numerically analyzed by CFD method in Reynolds number of 106and aerodynamic coefficients in static angle of attacks were validated with the experimental data reported by Somers in NREL. Therefore, computational results for modified airfoil with sinusoidal wavy leading edge were presented. The results revealed that, at low angles of attacks before the stall region, lift coefficient decreases slightly rather than baseline model. However, the modified airfoil has a smooth stall trend while baseline airfoil lift coefficient decreases sharply due to the separation which occurred on suction side. According to the flow physics over the airfoils, leading edge bumps act as vortex generator so vortices containing high level of momentum make the flow remain attached to the surface of the airfoil at high angle of attack and prevent it from having a deep stall.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Shevchenko ◽  
Nikolay Rogalev ◽  
Andrey Rogalev ◽  
Andrey Vegera ◽  
Nikolay Bychkov

Numerical simulation of temperature field of cooled turbine blades is a required element of gas turbine engine design process. The verification is usually performed on the basis of results of test of full-size blade prototype on a gas-dynamic test bench. A method of calorimetric measurement in a molten metal thermostat for verification of a thermal model of cooled blade is proposed in this paper. The method allows obtaining local values of heat flux in each point of blade surface within a single experiment. The error of determination of local heat transfer coefficients using this method does not exceed 8% for blades with radial channels. An important feature of the method is that the heat load remains unchanged during the experiment and the blade outer surface temperature equals zinc melting point. The verification of thermal-hydraulic model of high-pressure turbine blade with cooling allowing asymmetrical heat removal from pressure and suction sides was carried out using the developed method. An analysis of heat transfer coefficients confirmed the high level of heat transfer in the leading edge, whose value is comparable with jet impingement heat transfer. The maximum of the heat transfer coefficients is shifted from the critical point of the leading edge to the pressure side.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander R. Stäblein ◽  
Morten H. Hansen ◽  
David R. Verelst

Abstract. Coupling between bending and twist has a significant influence on the aeroelastic response of wind turbine blades. The coupling can arise from the blade geometry (e.g. sweep, prebending or deflection under load) or from the anisotropic properties of the blade material. Bend-twist coupling can be utilised to reduce the fatigue loads of wind turbine blades. In this study the effect of material based coupling on the aeroelastic modal properties and stability limits of the DTU 10 MW Reference Wind Turbine are investigated. The modal properties are determined by means of eigenvalue analysis around a steady-state equilibrium using the aero-servo-elastic tool HAWCStab2 which has been extended by a beam element that allows for fully coupled cross-sectional properties. Bend-twist coupling is introduced in the cross-sectional stiffness matrix by means of coupling coefficients that introduce twist for flapwise (flap-twist coupling) or edgewise (edge-twist coupling) bending. Edge-twist coupling can increase or decrease the damping of the edgewise mode relative to the reference blade, depending on the operational condition of the turbine. Edge-twist to feather coupling for edgewise deflection towards the leading edge reduces the inflow speed at which the blade becomes unstable. Flap-twist to feather coupling for flapwise deflections towards the suction side increase the frequency and reduce damping of the flapwise mode. Flap-twist to stall reduces frequency and increases damping. The reduction of blade root flapwise and tower bottom fore-aft moments due to variations in mean wind speed of a flap-twist to feather blade are confirmed by frequency response functions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 403-416
Author(s):  
Chirag Sharma ◽  
Siddhant Kumar ◽  
Aanya Singh ◽  
Kartik R. Bhat Hire ◽  
Vedant Karnatak ◽  
...  

Developments in the gas turbine technology have caused widespread usage of the Turbomachines for power generation. With increase in the power demand and a drop in the availability of fuel, usage of turbines with higher efficiencies has become imperative. This is only possible with an increase in the turbine inlet temperature (TIT) of the gas. However, the higher limit of TIT is governed by the metallurgical boundary conditions set by the material used to manufacture the turbine blades. Hence, turbine blade cooling helps in drastically controlling the blade temperature of the turbine and allows a higher turbine inlet temperature. The blade could be cooled from the leading edge, from the entire surface of the blade or from the trailing edge. The various methods of blade cooling from leading edge and its comparative study were reviewed and summarized along with their advantages and disadvantages.


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