Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 52 No. 1 (March 2015)77

Aerodynamic Design Optimization ofCentrifugal Compressor Impeller Based on
Genetic Algorithm and Artificial Neural Network

SEIICHI IBARAKI*1

ISAO TOMITA*2

KOICHI SUGIMOTO*2

The centrifugal compressor in an automotive turbocharger is required to have a highpressure ratio, high efficiency, and in particular, wide operating range. Performance improvement
has been carried out utilizing computational fluid dynamics and experiments, and further
performance improvement through conventional design methods has become increasingly difficult,requiring a significant amount of time for aerodynamic design. Therefore, we developed anoptimized design method with computers using a genetic algorithm and artificial neural network inplace of the conventional design method. This method was applied to the design of the centrifugal
compressor impeller. The performance results of the two designed impellers attained higher
efficiency and a significant extension of operating range, respectively, compared with the baseline
impeller.

|1. Introduction
The downsizing of automotive engines through the installation of turbochargers is
acknowledged as an assured method for fuel efficiency enhancement, and is expanding itsapplication. The centrifugal compressor in an automotive turbocharger is required to have wide
operating range to cover automotive driving, a high pressure ratio, and high efficiency.
Performance improvement has been carried out utilizing computational fluid dynamics andexperiments to measure the performance and internal flow.(1) As the impeller in the centrifugal
compressor has a complicated three-dimensional geometry, the internal flow forms a very
complicated three-dimensional vortex flow field due to the geometry, and the loss generation has
diverse mechanisms. There are many design parameters and the improvement of efficiency has
become difficult with the conventional manual design method having the problem of requiring asignificant amount of time. Therefore, we have developed an optimized design method withcomputers using a genetic algorithm and artificial neural network as an advanced design method.
This method was applied to the design of the centrifugal compressor impeller in a turbocharger,
and two types of impellers were created. As a result of a performance test, the efficacy of thisoptimized design method was confirmed to have attained higher efficiency of 1% or more, and an
extended operating range at least twice as large in each impeller compared with the baseline
impeller.
This report describes the optimized design method, the resulting design of the centrifugal
compressor impeller and its performance test results. In addition, an understanding of the internal
flow phenomena and the mechanism for better performance using computational fluid dynamics
are briefly explained.

*1

Chief Staff Manager, Nagasaki Research & Development Center, Technology & Innovation Headquarters*2

Nagasaki Research & Development Center, Technology & Innovation Headquarters

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 52 No. 1 (March 2015)78|2. Optimized Design Method
Figure 1 shows the optimized design process consisting of a genetic algorithm (GA) andartificial neural network (ANN). GA is an optimizing algorithm simulating biological evolution,and ANN simulates the function of the human brain. In GA, design parameters such as the blade
geometry coordinates shown in Figure 2 are regarded as genes, and the new blade geometry isgenerated by crossing blade geometries in each generation. In ANN, the performance is estimatedbased on a database of blade geometry and performance without conducting detailed fluiddynamics. The high-performance blade geometry estimated in ANN is evaluated in the detailed
three-dimensional viscous fluid dynamics (3D NS Analysis) shown on the left in Figure 1, and theresults with the geometrical data are stored in the database. The accuracy of ANN performance
prediction is improved in accordance with the expansion of the database with the learning functionof ANN.
The optimized design of the centrifugal compressor impeller using this method generated
200 generations and 10 individuals (blade geometries) in one generation with GA, and the process
was repeated approximately 70 times. There were 27 design parameters to define the bladegeometry including the number of blades, meridional plane coordinates and blade angle. Nine
penalty functions, such as efficiency, flow rate, blade load, maximum Mach number andacceleration/deceleration rate to Mach number were defined to evaluate the performance in ANN(2).

Figure 1

Process of design optimization

Figure 2

Difinition of blade geometry|3. Optimized Design Results of Centrifugal Compressor Impeller
The centrifugal compressor impeller is a backswept open impeller type with a splitter blade,and the design pressure ratio is 1.53. Table 1 and Figure 3 show the main specifications and formsof the two optimized design impellers (OPT1 and OPT2), and a baseeline impeller, respectively.
Figure 4 shows a comparison of meridional geometries. In the two optimized designs, theminimum value of the blade number, which is one of the design parameters, is the only difference.
In the first case, the number of full blades and splitter blades is five each and in the second case, thenumber is four. OPT1 has higher efficiency by 0.5 to 1.0% compared with that of the baseline
impeller, and OPT2 has an extended operating range of twice or more, although the maximum
efficiency was lower by 1% compared with that of the baseline impeller, as described below.
Table 1 Specifications of baseline andoptimized design impellers
Impeller diameter(mm)
Outlet width(mm)
Inlet tip diameter(mm)
Inlet hub diameter(mm)
Blade number

OPT1

OPT2

Baseline

50.0

49.6

49.0

4.14

3.75

4.20

39.5

37.1

37.8

13.9

12.6

12.65＋54＋46＋6

Figure 3 Comparison of baseline impeller andoptimized impeller

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 52 No. 1 (March 2015)79

The history of penalty functions of the OPT1 optimized design is shown in Figure 5. OPT1
is an impeller attained at the 17th iteration, and its efficiency falls within the top 10 of all results.
Optimized design, however, needs to consider not only efficiency, but also other performance
penalty indexes in a comprehensive manner for the selection of the impeller. Figure 6 shows theshroud Mach number distribution from blade inlet to outlet of OPT1, which was attained by ANN
and 3D NS analysis. This shows good correlation with ANN prediction and the results of 3D NSanalysis. The distribution of the Mach number of OPT1 is very smooth with small local
fluctuations, and the load at full blade and splitter blade are almost even with approximately thesame Mach number. The final selection was OPT1 considering these results. OPT1 was thought tobe advantageous in strength and productivity with less forward inclination of the splitter blade
leading edge.
OPT2 selected in the second optimized design was also chosen using similar criteria as
OPT1. OPT2 has the third highest efficiency overall, a smooth Mach number distribution at theblade tip similar to OPT1 as shown in Figure 7.Blade loads between the full blade and splitterblade are also even. OPT2 has only four full blades and four splitter blades as shown in Table 1 andFigure 3, and as a result, the inlet diameter of the impeller is small as shown in Figure 4. It also
shows characteristics of the short axial length and forward slanted leading edge of the splitterblade.

Figure 4 Comparison of meridional
geometries

Figure 5 History of performance evaluationindex in optimized design

Figure 6 Shroud Mach number distributionof OPT1

Figure 7 Shroud Mach number distribution
at blade tip of OPT2

|4. Performance Test Results
The performance test results of two impellers, OPT1 and OPT2, attained by the optimized
design are compared with the baseline impeller. Figure 8 shows the compressor characteristics,
Figure 9 shows the compressor efficiency, and Figure 10 is a comparison of operating range.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 52 No. 1 (March 2015)80Figure 8 shows the higher efficiency of OPT1, and OPT2 has a lower maximum efficiency by 1%
but an extended operating range compared with the baseline impeller. In Figure 9, OPT1 shows ahigher maximum efficiency by 0.5% in the proximity of pressure ratio 1.8, and higher efficiency by
1% or more at the pressure ratio 2.2 or greater. In contrast, OPT2 shows a lower efficiency byapproximately 1% at all pressure ratio ranges. Figure 10 shows the normalized operating rangevalue ((maximum flow rate – surging flow rate)/surging flow rate), and OPT1 shows a moderate
reduction of operating range compared with the significant operating range reduction at a pressure
ratio of 1.9 or higher in the baseline impeller. OPT2 shows a further extended operating range thatis twice or more of the baseline impeller at a pressure ratio of 2.2 or higher. The compressor
characteristics in Figure 8 show the stable and extended operating range of OPT2 without showing
the unstable right-up characteristics of the compressor. These characteristics are ideal for thecentrifugal compressor in a turbocharger that is required to have an extended operating range.

Figure 8Comparison of compressor characteristics

Figure 9 Comparison of compressor
efficiencies

Figure 10

Comparison of operating range|5. Consideration of Internal Flow
The clarification of the mechanism of performance improvement of OPT1 and OPT2 wasconducted with three-dimensional fluid dynamics. ANSYS CFX ver. 12 was used as the analysis
code, and the k-ε model was used for the turbulent model for the steady analysis of the impeller,
diffuser and scroll. The number of computational grids is 2,470,000 in the impeller, 410,000 in thediffuser and 250,000 in the scroll. Computations were made at the rotational speed of 0.89
(maximum speed: 1.0) and the peak efficiency point of the flow rate as shown in Figure 8.
The results of fluid dynamics of OPT1, OPT2 and the baseline impeller are shown inFigure 11 (a) to (c) respectively. These are visualizations of the vortical structure of the impeller,
and the combination of the blade surface limiting stream line, stream line and loss distribution areshown. Figure 11 (a) shows the baseline impeller, and it shows the strong secondary flow rising upMitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 52 No. 1 (March 2015)
81

from the hub to blade tip that is generated at the blade inlet in the vicinity of the leading edge. With
this flow, low energy fluids such as blade surface boundary layer accumulate on the blade tip,
move down the stream while sucking-in the tip leakage vortex, and create a large loss area at theright side passage of the splitter blade near the outlet. The tip leakage vortex is generated at theimmediate downstream of the full blade leading edge, creating a large loss area by moving into theleft side passage of the splitter blade. In contrast, OPT1 in Figure 11 (b) is free from the secondary
flow at the blade inlet, and the accumulation of low energy fluid at the tip end is controlled. Inaddition, the tip leakage vortex near the leading edge is generated farther downstream than that of
the baseline impeller. With the small number of blades, the blade load is high and the leakage
vortex is strong, but the vortex moves into the right side passage of the splitter blade. As a result,
the total loss is reduced by suppressing the secondary flow in spite of the higher maximum loss
compared with the baseline impeller at the right side passage of the splitter blade outlet. This showsthat the cause of the higher efficiency of OPT1 is the suppression of secondary flow, the effect of
the blade load distribution in the blade height and streamwise direction attained in the optimized
design.
Figure 11 (c) shows the results of fluid dynamics of OPT2. The flow structure and loss
generating mechanism of OPT2 are almost the same as OPT1. The secondary flow, which is morethan that of OPT1 and less than that of the baseline impeller, is generated at the blade inlet. A
significant amount of low energy fluid is accumulated, and is believed to result in lower efficiency.
The reason for the significant extension of operating range in OPT2 is due to the vortex breakdownof tip leakage vortex, and the details are described in another report(3).

Figure 11

Comparison of internal flow

|6. Conclusion
An advanced optimized design method was developed with a genetic algorithm and artificial
neural network for performance innovation and design time reduction. The method was also
applied to the design of the centrifugal compressor impeller in a turbocharger. The test results ofMitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 52 No. 1 (March 2015)82

two types of impellers created using the design method showed the improvement of efficiency andthe extension of operating range, and this method was verified to be valid. In addition, with thereverse analysis of the obtained impellers using three-dimensional viscous fluid dynamics, the flow
structure and mechanism of efficiency improvement were understood.
This optimized design method, which stimulates the utmost usage of computer, can be apowerful tool for the increasingly difficult performance improvement and the acceleration ofdevelopment speed. We will proceed with upgrades of the optimized design method such as thesimultaneous optimization of multiple operating points and constituting parts, aerodynamicperformance and reliability and the improvement of the optimization algorithm. Furthermore, wewould like to create a new performance improvement concept by utilizing fluid dynamics andexperiments for the reverse analysis of the attained optimized design solutions, and utilize it for theformulation of guidelines for performance improvement design.
This optimized design method is a joint development with the Von Karman Institute for
Fluid Dynamics in Belgium, and we would like to express our gratitude to Honorary Professor
Prof. René Van den Braembussche, Associate Professor Prof. Tom Verstraete and Dr. Zuheyr
Alsalihi.

Reference
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Ibaraki, S., Progress of Automotive Turbochargers as a Key Technology for Low Carbon Society,
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Ibaraki et al., Development of a Wide-Range Centrifugal Compressor for Automotive Turbochargers,
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 49 No. 1 (2012) pp. 68-73
Ibaraki, S. et al., Aerodynamic Design Optimization of a Centrifugal Compressor Impeller Based on an
Artificial Neural Network and Genetic Algorithm, IMechE Paper, C1384/0589 (2014)