On the Inverse Design of Inter-stage Ducts, Diffuser Walls and Meridional Geometry of Turbomachines

In this paper a method is presented for the design of diffuser walls, interstage ducts and meridional geometry of turbomachines.  In this method the wall geometry is designed subject to a specified meridional velocity distribution.  The effect of variation in inlet velocity (or inlet shear flow) to duct is modeled by using a velocity term related to spanwise variations in stagnation enthalpy and the drift function.  The flow field is then solved by using a streamfunction and kinematic condition based on the vorticity in the flow.  A simple transpiration model; is used to update the wall geometry.  To design the meridional geometry of turbomachines a vorticity related to bound circulation is introduced.  The vortex term together with the inviscid slip condition can be used to find the swirl distribution when blade shape is specified (blade analysis mode) or the blade shape when the swirl distribution is specified (blade design mode).  The results of the application of the method to a converging duct, an S-shaped duct with non-uniform inlet flow and then meridional geometry of a centrifugal compressor impeller confirm the validity of this approach.

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