Comparison of Several Optimization Strategies for Robust Turbine Blade Design

摘要

This paper addresses the problem of turbine blade shape optimization in the presence of geometric uncertainties.nSeveral strategies are tested and compared on a two-dimensional compressor blade optimization process for whichnperformance is assessed using a commercial Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes computational fluid dynamics code.nIn each case, a range of shape errors are considered that attempt to simulate foreign object damage, erosion damage,nand manufacturing errors. These lead to stochastic performance measures that, in turn, are considered in a multi-nobjective optimization framework. Because of the long run times associated with Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokesncodes, use is also made of surrogate or response-surface-based optimization methods to speed up the searchnprocesses. The paper shows that a range of techniques can be used to tackle this problem, but that no one method isnclearly best overall. The practitioner is therefore cautioned against favoring a single approach for such designnproblems. Further research may help clarify these issues.