Shape Adaptive Airfoils for Turbomachinery applications: Simulation and Optimization

Smart materials and smart structural concepts in flow control have the potential for significant impact on the design and performance of modern turbocompressors. While the benefits of an airfoil whose geometry is variable were investigated in detail in the area of adaptive wings for airplanes, this is a new field for the application in turbomachines. The main focus is on simulations of novel flow control concepts to allow a structural ’morphing’ and thus changing the aerodynamic characteristic of the airfoils. LS-DYNA 970 Implicit is used for the calculations. Additionally, shape optimiziations are performed using LS-OPT in conjunction with a parametric mesh generator.