60016 - Novel End-End System for Combustor Design and Analysis 

High quality geometry creation is a key step in the design process for complex modern turbomachinery subsystems such as an annular combustor assembly. In particular, parametric generation of 3D CAD geometry is an enabler for design studies and multi-disciplinary analysis. In a traditional approach, 3D CAD models are either created in a bespoke manner with respect to the engine of interest or if a parametric approach is used, the geometry is for one particular combustor configuration which typically leads to insufficient flexibility for topological variations. In either of these cases for every combustor design, substantial manual efforts are involved in geometry creation as well as in geometry manipulation towards creation of a truncated sector model suitable for meshing and analysis. A more flexible and fully parametric approach in highly integrated and automated design processes during all product design phases is therefore necessary.

The present paper demonstrates a novel End-End (E2E) system for a rapid combustor design and analysis on an example CFD simulation by combining feature-based geometry modelling approach that enables automatic creation of an analysis compatible combustor assembly, with a geometry-centric optimization system called PROMETHEUS. The automated design system is able to manipulate 3D geometry, to create necessary script files for meshing, simulation and post-processing for a typical CFD analysis, and execute the process to analyze different designs with respect to defined design objectives and constraints.

The paper will discuss the robustness and flexibility of the underlying parametric CAD approach, how it augments the downstream processes, which is able to handle and translate significant topological changes throughout the E2E system but will also clearly demonstrate the efficiency gain of the automated combustor design process, which enables design engineers to make better decision faster.  

Keywords: Annular combustor assembly, Feature-Based Modelling, Geometry-centric Optimization System, End-End System