AERODYNAMIC DESIGN OF S-SHAPED DIFFUSERS USING BALL SPINE INVERSE DESIGN METHOD

Recently, an inverse design algorithm called ball-spine algorithm (BSA) is introduced for the design of 2-D ducts. In this approach, the walls are considered as a set of virtual balls that can freely move along the straight directions called spines. In the present work the method is developed for quasi 3-D design of S-shaped ducts with a predefined width. To do so, the upper and lower lines of the S-duct symmetric section are modified under the BSA and then, the 3-D S-duct geometry is obtained based on elliptic cross sectional profiles. The target pressure distributions along the upper and lower lines are prescribed so that the separation does not occur. Finally, the flow through the designed S-duct is numerically analyzed using a viscous flow solver with the SST turbulence model to validate the designed S-duct performance.