Aerodynamic Design of a Centrifugal Compressor Stage Using an Automatic Optimization Strategy

Abstract

In this paper a 3D optimization process for the aerodynamic design of a centrifugal multistage compressor stage is presented using the commercial software NUMECA/Design3D. The exercise, starting from a given single stage configuration with vaned diffuser, consists in the automatic design of the vaned diffuser with a return channel in order to obtain a repetitive compressor stage for multistage compressor architecture. The design process uses the meta-model approach coupled to 3D Navier-Stokes simulations; the optimization algorithm drives the automatic design process to minimize a prescribed goal function. Only the design condition has been considered and the effect of the starting DoE population on the optimization process has been investigated. In the paper a critical analysis on the design process using the meta-model approach is performed and the most crucial issues to set up a best practice for the effective use of such technology are discussed in some detail.