Optimization of the Rib Structure Inside a 2D Cooling Channel

Abstract

To increase the thermal efficiency of industrial gas turbines, the performance of the internal cooling channels is of main importance. These cooling channels are often equipped with ribs on the top and bottom walls to increase the turbulence and the mixing of the flow. Depending on the position of the cooling channel in the turbine blade and the external heat load, the ribs have to be designed differently. Up to now the decision of the optimal design parameters was mainly based on the knowledge of the engineer. The present work investigates genetic algorithms as optimization methods to find an optimal design for the rib configuration in a 2d internal cooling channel. The main optimization targets are the reduction of the friction factor and the enhancement of the heat transfer. The paper shows that the basic approach seems to be successful and that an extension of the work to 3d real geometries is promising.