Cooling system optimisation of turbine guide vane

This paper discuses the problem of cooling system optimisation within a gas turbine vane. The analysis involves the optimisation of size and location of internal cooling passages within the vane. Cooling is provided with ten circular passages and heat is transported only convectively. The task is approached in 3D configuration. Each passage is fed with cooling air of constant parameters at the inlet. Also a constant pressure drop is assumed along the passage length. The thermal boundary conditions in passages varied with diameter and local vane temperature (passage wall temperature). The analysis is performed by means of the evolutionary approach for the optimisation task and FEM for the heat transfer predictions within the component. The optimisation is realised with genetic algorithm where two ways of individual (cooling system candidate) representations are used and juxtaposed. These are the classical binary representation of the design variables and the floating point form. The results show some potential stored in a vane cooling system. Appropriate passage distribution makes it possible to improve the operation condition for highly loaded thermal components. Also the comparison between binary versus floating point representation of the design variables show some superiority of the latter.