An adjoint approach to optimal design of turbine blades

In power plants, the aerodynamic optimization of turbine blades is crucial for efficiency considerations. The profile of the turbine blade is described by Bézier polynomials, where the coefficients are used as design variables in a nonlinear optimization procedure. The fluid-mechanics are modelled by the 2D Euler equations. This article deals with the application of an adjoint method for the optimization algorithm in the stationary case.