An inverse optimization of turbulent flow and heat transfer for a cooling passage with hierarchically arranged ribs in turbine blades

Owing to the limited cold-air amount and pressure in supply systems, high-efficient heat transfer with low-level friction loss is highly desired for cooling units of a turbine blade. To exploit the potential improvement of hierarchically arranged ribs in cooling passages proposed previously, multi-parameter optimizations for rib arrangements are implemented by integrating the simplified conjugate-gradient algorithm with the turbulent flow and heat transfer model. Rib heights as design variables are optimized with various performance indices as objective functions at a fixed Re. The optimizations confirm that using the wall temperature difference and Nu as the objective function, respectively, a limited heat transfer improvement is achieved with a greatly increased friction loss. Taking the overall performance factor as the objective function, different optimal designs at different constraint conditions possess hierarchical characteristics. A significant friction loss reduction of 52.1%, 54.7%, and 54.8%, is achieved with a moderate heat transfer loss of 10.9%, 7.0%, and 2.3%. Despite different thermal and friction performances, their overall performances are consistent with a remarkable increase of 13.9%, 21.2%, and 27.3%. Finally, the optimization strategy coupling the multi-parameter optimization and hierarchical scheme is confirmed as effective for enhancing the thermohydraulic performance of convective heat transfer systems with perturbation elements.

Automated summary

This study focuses on optimizing the rib arrangements in cooling passages of a turbine blade cooling unit to improve heat transfer performance. The multi-parameter optimization algorithm is applied to find the optimal designs with different performance indices as objective functions. The results show that using the overall performance factor as the objective function can achieve significant reduction in friction loss with moderate heat transfer loss.