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A robust inverse design solver for controlling the potential aggressiveness of cavitating flow on hydrofoil cascades
Author(s) -
Nahon Jeremy,
Zangeneh Mehrdad,
Nohmi Motohiko,
Watanabe Hiroyoshi,
Goto Akira
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal for numerical methods in fluids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1097-0363
pISSN - 0271-2091
DOI - 10.1002/fld.4974
Subject(s) - cavitation , solver , cascade , flow (mathematics) , computational fluid dynamics , controllability , mechanics , inverse , control theory (sociology) , inverse problem , multigrid method , computer science , aerodynamics , engineering , physics , mathematics , mathematical optimization , mathematical analysis , geometry , partial differential equation , artificial intelligence , control (management) , chemical engineering
This article presents the development of a new inverse design algorithm capable of generating blade geometries for cavitating cascade flows. With this methodology, we demonstrate the controllability of the pressure distribution in and around the cavity and thereby provide a means to regulate the aggressiveness of blade cavitation phenomena. The solver proposed here uses the Tohoku–Ebara equation of state to model phase change, combined with bespoke preconditioning and multigrid methods designed to handle the system's ill conditioning and cope with the hypersonic flow regime of the mixture, respectively. Blade geometries and the cavitating flow field are calculated simultaneously in a robust and efficient manner, with a blade loading that matches the target distribution. In this article, the accuracy of the cavitating flow solver is first demonstrated for the NACA0015 hydrofoil case and associated experimental data. The inverse design procedure is then applied to a typical axial flow pump cascade: a new blade profile is generated with a topology that successfully reduces the gradient of the pressure jump at cavity closure.