A Genetic Algorithm Based Approach to Radial Flow Impeller Design

The authors present a method for fluid-dynamic design of radial flow impellers based on an optimization technique derived from the genetic algorithm theory. The effectiveness of this kind of algorithms is proven by the reduced number of function evaluations which are needed for finding the optimal geometrical features of the impeller. The genetic optimization proceeds with the selection of the impeller parameters without dealing with the typical difficulties which are encountered when employing a numerical optimization technique. The examples presented refer to impellers in centrifugal compressors for aircraft applications, and the authors show the results achieved in terms of both evolution of the optimizing process and of flow and load distribution within the impeller.