Three-Dimensional Aerodynamic Design Optimization of a Turbine Blade by Using an Adjoint Method

This paper presents the application of an adjoint method to the aerodynamic design optimization of a turbine blade. With the adjoint method, the complete gradient information needed for optimization can be obtained by solving the governing flow equations and their corresponding adjoint equations only once, regardless of the number of design parameters. The formulations including imposition of appropriate boundary conditions for the adjoint equations of the Euler equations for turbomachinery problems are presented. Two design cases are demonstrated for a turbine cascade that involves a high tip flare, characteristic of steam turbine blading in low-pressure turbines. The results demonstrate that the design optimization method is effective and the redesigned blade yields weaker shock and compression waves in the supersonic region of the flow while satisfying the specified constraint. The relative effects of changing blade profile stagger, modifying the blade profile shape, and changing both stagger and profile shape at the same time are examined and compared. Navier–Stokes calculations are performed to confirm the performance at both the design and off-design conditions of the blade designed by the Euler method.