IMPROVE: Innovative methods of profile design in compressors
The IMPROVE research project comprises the numerical and experimental investigation of a disruptive novel airfoil design concept for compressor blades. The concept of boundary layer laminarization (GLH) and passive boundary layer stabilization (GLS) aims to increase the lift and efficiency of compressor airfoils in the central region of the blades, which is characterized by quasi-two-dimensional (Q2D) blade boundary layers.
The numerical investigations start with a detailed numerical analysis of the operational behavior of today's profile types. Here, transition effects are characterized using the -transition model of Langtry and Menter. Figure 1 shows the schematic boundary layer development with transition for a tandem stator.
Incorporating the concept of GLH, a high-performance aerodynamic optimization of various single and tandem airfoils is then performed under steady-state and transient inflow conditions. For the 2D optimization, the meta-heuristic optimizer AutoOpti of DLR is used. Based on these results, a numerical analysis of the effectiveness of different surface structures for passive GLS is performed. The numerical investigations conclude with the simulation of the developed GLH tandem profile type in the environment of a highly-loaded compressor stage.
The experimental work includes the validation of the numerically developed high-lift profiles in the low-speed cascade test at steady-state and transient inflow conditions. Here, a reference single profile, a high-lift single profile with GLS and a high-lift tandem profile with GLS are analyzed.
Aim/Objective
- Provide a disruptive novel profile design concept for compressor blades by expanding the design space with respect to GLS.
- Controlled manipulation of the boundary layer development and the transition position of single- and tandem configurations to efficiently increase the aerodynamic robustness of highly loaded compressor stages.
- Gain new knowledge and validate numerical transition modeling in compressors using experimental data.
