Research Fellows / Open Positions

Early Stage Researcher 13 at VKI

CAD based adjoint optimization of turbomachinery components

This project aims to develop an adjoint optimisation methodology for turbomachines that is based on commonly used turbomachinery parametrisations as opposed to free form deformations (FFD). An existing evaluation chain comprising a CAD kernel, grid generator and CFD analysis needs to be differentiated. The methodology and its advantages will be demonstrated by industrially relevant applications, and will be compared to the existing gradient-free optimisation chain.

Objectives:

• M6-M8: Development of forward differentiation framework as reference test case for later validation of developed adjoint code. Secondment to QMUL. (WP4).
• M8-M12: Development of reverse propagation of geometrical sensitivities of CAD based model. (WP4).
• M12-M18: Propagation of grid sensitivities in reverse mode to CAD model. Secondment to NTUA. (WP4).
• M18-M30: Integration with in-house adjoint CFD solver for demonstration/evaluation. Secondment to RRD. (WP6).
• M30-M42: Application of method to industrial test cases, extension to multi-point (WP6)

For further details, contact Prof. Tom Verstraete, tom.verstraete@vki.ac.be