AERODYNAMIC OPTIMIZATION FOR TURBINE BLADE BASED ON HIERARCHICAL FAIR COMPETITION GENETIC ALGORITHMS WITH DYNAMIC NICHE

A global optimization approach to turbine blade design based on hierarchical fair competition genetic algorithms with dynamic niche （HFCDN-GAs） coupled with Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes （RANS） equation is presented. In order to meet the search theory of GAs and the aerodynamic performances of turbine, Bezier curve is adopted to parameterize the turbine blade profile, and a fitness function pertaining to optimization is designed. The design variables are the control points＇ ordinates of characteristic polygon of Bezier curve representing the turbine blade profile. The object function is the maximum lift-drag ratio of the turbine blade. The constraint conditions take into account the leading and trailing edge metal angle, and the strength and aerodynamic performances of turbine blade. And the treatment method of the constraint conditions is the flexible penalty function. The convergence history of test function indicates that HFCDN-GAs can locate the global optimum within a few search steps and have high robustness. The lift-drag ratio of the optimized blade is 8.3% higher than that of the original one. The results show that the proposed global optimization approach is effective for turbine blade.

Review on Tidal Energy Technologies and Research Subjects

Tidal current power is one of the promising and reliable renewable energies with the advantage of continuous and predictable resource. It can make stable electricity regardless of weather conditions or seasons all year around. The required technologies for tidal current power in the ocean have been developed for years and now recognized that it could be commercialized after intensive field tests and successful demonstrations. There are several tidal farm development projects in the world, such as the MeyGen project in UK with its commercialization at hand. However, various research subjects in the tidal current energy field are seeking improvements and industrialization of tidal current power in terms of economy and technical reliability. This paper introduces the resource assessment procedure of tidal energy that has been applied in Korea coastal regions. The key research subjects for tidal current power together with the interaction effect of multi-arrangement is described. Also, this paper is to introduce the research output of each subject such as turbine design, experimental validation, turbine interaction and wake, multi-array module, FSI (fluid-structure interaction), and duct application.

Using a pressure controlled vortex design method to control secondary flow losses in a turbine stage

A turbine design method based on pressure controlled vortex design （PCVD） is presented to design a small-size turbine stage. Contrary to the conventional controlled vortex design （CVD） method, the main objective of PCVD is to control the axial velocity and radial pressure in the sta- tor rotor gap. Through controlling axial velocity, the PCVD establishes a direct tie to meridional stream surface. Thus stream surface variation is induced, resulting in a large secondary flow vortex covering the full blade passage in the respective stator and rotor. This secondary flow vortex could be dedicated to control the secondary flow mitigation and migration. Through radial pressure, the PCVD is also associated with the macroscopic driving force of fluid motion. So the better benefit of CVD can be achieved. The core concept behind PCVD is to mainly control the spanwise pressure gradient by altering profile loading at various spanwise locations. Therefore not only the local pro- file lift is affected, but also the resulting throat widths, stage reaction degree, and massflow rate are altered or redistributed respectively. With the PCVD method, the global stage efficiency is increased successfully while the mass flow rate keeps constant. Additionally there is no endwall shape optimization, stacking optimization, or pitch/chord variations, concentrating solely on varying blade profile deflections and stagger.

Effects of Nozzle-Strut Integrated Design Concepton on the Subsonic Turbine Stage Flowfield

In order to shorten aero-engine axial length,substituting the traditional long chord thick strut design accompanied with the traditional low pressure(LP) stage nozzle,LP turbine is integrated with intermediate turbine duct(ITD).In the current paper,five vanes of the first stage LP turbine nozzle is replaced with loaded struts for supporting the engine shaft,and providing oil pipes circumferentially which fulfilled the areo-engine structure requirement.However,their bulky geometric size represents a more effective obstacle to flow from high pressure(HP) turbine rotor.These five struts give obvious influence for not only the LP turbine nozzle but also the flowfield within the ITD,and hence cause higher loss.Numerical investigation has been undertaken to observe the influence of the Nozzle-Strut integrated design concept on the flowfield within the ITD and the nearby nozzle blades.According to the computational results,three main conclusions are finally obtained.Firstly,a noticeable low speed area is formed near the strut's leading edge,which is no doubt caused by the potential flow effects.Secondly,more severe radial migration of boundary layer flow adjacent to the strut's pressure side have been found near the nozzle's trailing edge.Such boundary layer migration is obvious,especially close to the shroud domain.Meanwhile,radial pressure gradient aggravates this phenomenon.Thirdly,velocity distribution along the strut's pressure side on nozzle's suction surface differs,which means loading variation of the nozzle.And it will no doubt cause nonuniform flowfield faced by the downstream rotor blade.

Study on the Rotor Design Method for a Small Propeller-Type Wind Turbine

Small propeller-type wind turbines have a low Reynolds number,limiting the number of usable airfoil materials.Thus,their design method is not sufBciently established,and their performance is often low.The ultimate goal of this research is to establish high-performance design guidelines and design methods for small propeller-type wind turbines.To that end,we designed two rotors:Rotor A,based on the rotor optimum design method from the blade element momentum theory,and Rotor B,in which the chord length of the tip is extended and the chord length distribution is linearized.We examined performance characteristics and flow fields of the two rotors through wind tunnel experiments and numerical analysis.Our results revealed that the maximum output tip speed ratio of Rotor B shifted lower than that of Rotor A,but the maximum output coefficient increased by approximately 38.7%.Rotors A and B experienced a large-scale separation on the hub side,which extended to the mean in Rotor A.This difference in separation had an impact on the significant decrease in Rotor A's output compared to the design value and the increase in Rotor B's output compared to Rotor A.

Design of Wind Turbine Blade for Solar Chimney Power Plant

Aiming at the global efficiency of solar chimney power plant(SCPP), we design a wind turbine generation device to elevate its electricity generating efficiency. Based on wind power utilization theory, a new method is proposed to design a type of wind turbine blade for SCPP. The lift and resistance coefficients on different Reynolds numbers of NACA4418 airfoil, which is suitable for experimental solar electricity generation system, are determined by Profili-V2.0 airfoil design software, a program written in Matlab to calculate chord length of the airfoil. The optimization is conducted by class-shape-transformation(CST) parameterization method and Xfoil software. An airfoil design program is designed on the basis of blade element theory and attack angle with the highest lift coefficient to iteratively determine the inflow angle and setting angle. Prandtl's tip-loss factor is applied to correct the setting angle, after the airfoil data are input into AutoCAD to build an airfoil model which is then imported into Solidworks to draw blades. A new way is put forward to design wind turbine blades in SCPP.

Numerical Optimization and Noise Analysis of High-Tip-SpeedWind Turbine

With lower turbulence and less rigorous restrictions on noise levels,offshore wind farms provide favourable conditions for the development of high-tip-speed wind turbines.In this study,the multi-objective optimization is presented for a 5MW wind turbine design and the effects of high tip speed on power output,cost and noise are analysed.In order to improve the convergence and efficiency of optimization,a novel type of gradient-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm is proposed based on uniform decomposition and differential evolution.Optimization examples of the wind turbines indicate that the new algorithm can obtain uniformly distributed optimal solutions and this algorithm outperforms the conventional evolutionary algorithms in convergence and optimization efficiency.For the 5MW wind turbines designed,increasing the tip speed can greatly reduce the cost of energy(COE).When the tip speed increases from 80m/s to 100m/s,under the same annual energy production,the COE decreases by 3.2%in a class I wind farm and by 5.1%in a class III one,respectively,while the sound pressure level increases by a maximum of 4.4dB with the class III wind farm case.

Effect of inlet rotating swirl on endwall film cooling for two representative hole arrangements

The swirl generator is widely used in lean-burn combustor to guarantee flame stability and reduce NOxemissions. Thus, the non-uniformities induced by the swirler would affect and damage film-cooling effectiveness on the turbine components, even blow-off coolant coverage, to some certain extent. The arrangement of film-cooling holes was normally designed to be perpendicular to the axial direction and in standard straight row. In this work we experimentally studied the effects of inlet swirl and mass flow ratio on traditional film cooling holes arrangement and a new arrangement pattern whose holes are located along the isobars. Results indicated that the swirl perturbation would damage film coverage. The film-cooling effect of endwall on which the holes are along the isobars, is invariably more promising than that of endwall on which hole arrangement is perpendicular to axial with the same mass flow of coolant, whether the inlet conditions is uniform or not.