Suppression of secondary flows in a centrifugal impeller by optimisation design

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to suppress secondary flows and improve aerodynamic performance of a centrifugal impeller.

Design/methodology/approach

A multi-objective optimisation design system was described. The optimization design system was composed of a three-dimensional (3D) inverse design, multi-objective optimisation and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. First, the control parameter ΔCp for the secondary flows was derived and selected as the optimisation objective. Then, aimed at minimising ΔCp, a 3D inverse design for impellers with different blade loading distributions and blade lean angles was completed and multi-objective optimisation was conducted. Lastly, the improvement in the distribution of secondary flows and aerodynamic performance of the optimal impeller was demonstrated by CFD analysis.

Findings

The study derived the control parameter ΔCp for the secondary flows. ΔCp can indicate the distribution of secondary flows both near the blade pressure and suction surfaces. As ΔCp decreased, secondary flows decreased. The blade loading distribution with fore maximum blade loading at the shroud and aft maximum blade loading at the hub, coupled with a small negative blade lean angle, could help suppress secondary flows and improve aerodynamic efficiency.

Originality/value

A direct control method on internal flow field characteristic-secondary flows by optimisation design was proposed for a centrifugal impeller. The impeller optimisation design process saves time by avoiding substantial CFD sample calculations.

Citation

Xie, X., Li, Z., Zhu, B. and Wang, H. (2020), "Suppression of secondary flows in a centrifugal impeller by optimisation design", Engineering Computations, Vol. 37 No. 9, pp. 3023-3044. https://doi.org/10.1108/EC-09-2019-0411