Automatic Shape Optimisation for Hydro Turbine Components

摘要

Hydro turbines are individually designed according to the discharge and head distributions and the local situation. Large Francis turbines consist of: 1. spiral case, distributing the flow to the turbine, 2. stay vanes, for structural reasons, 3. adjustable guide vanes for regulating the flow rate 4. rotational runner and 5. draft tube. Fig.l shows the geometry of such a turbine. For a new turbine the shape of all these components have to be optimised. Considering large machines reaching an efficiency of more than 95%, the optimisation requires a high engineering effort and, consequently, it would be desirable to be done automatically.