Papers for

turbomachinery engineers

Papers whose findings have a practical use for this group, as judged from the abstract. Open a paper to read what it means in practice.

Cfd-driven symbolic regression improves rans transition models in turbomachinery

CFD-driven symbolic regression of RANS transition models

Abstract: Laminar-turbulent transition governs skin friction, heat transfer and losses in turbomachinery, yet Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) transition models rely on empirical correlations and hand-calibrated activation functions whose structural deficiencies cannot be resolved by recalibration. We propose a CFD-driven sparse symbolic regression framework to learn interpretable, closed-form corrections to the production and destruction activation functions in the intermittency equation of the local, Galilean-invariant $k$-$ω$-$γ$ model of Ge et al. Each correction combines a polynomial of a local pressure-gradient parameter, controlling amplitude and sign, with a bounded exponential of local flow features, controlling spatial support. This construction bounds the corrections without ad hoc limiters. Coefficients are identified by gradient-free optimization with the RANS solver in the loop, accelerated by POD-Kriging field surrogates, using mean-velocity data from wall-resolved large-eddy simulations (LES) of the ERCOFTAC T3 flat-plate cases. Elastic-net hyperparameters are selected automatically through bi-level optimization with leave-one-case-out cross-validation. The resulting model retains 11 of 21 candidate terms, compared with 20 under conventional grid-search tuning, while achieving comparable or slightly better accuracy on training and unseen cases. Both approaches recover the same leading-order correction. Applied without retraining to the transonic LS89 turbine cascade, far beyond the training envelope, the augmented model remains numerically robust and improves heat-transfer predictions at all four operating points, reducing errors by up to 70% where the baseline predicts premature transition under high freestream turbulence. Residual errors in transition onset and length highlight the limits of training on flat-plate data alone.

Mon 2 NovMachine Learning
The gist
Predicting when smooth air or fluids start to become turbulent affects how machines like turbines perform. Existing computer models use fixed formulas that don’t always capture the true transition from smooth to turbulent flow. The authors developed a method that combines computer simulations and symbolic math to find better formulas that adjust these models. Their new approach makes predictions more accurate for different flow conditions, improving heat transfer forecasts in turbine simulations without losing stability.
Open → 2611.03210v1

Collaborative agents translate language to turbomachinery visualization workflows

CATVis: A Collaborative Multi-Agent Workflow for Turbomachinery Simulation Data Visualization

Abstract: Recent advances in AI for Science have enabled natural language (NL) interfaces for scientific data analysis. In turbomachinery CFD post-processing, translating ambiguous high-level analytical goals (e.g., vortex identification) into precise visualization procedures supporting complex domain-specific analysis is challenging. We present CATVis, a Collaborative multi-agent workflow system that bridges this gap by transforming NL intents into structured middle representation for visualization. Our approach reformulates domain-specific visualization procedures as composable workflow representations, and use multi agent to generate workflow representations via intent planning, template generation, and error-aware refinement, where each stage incrementally updates a shared structured representation. We evaluate the impact of external knowledge and workflow structuring on generation accuracy, demonstrating that the proposed approach significantly improves complex workflow generation correctness while reducing prompt complexity.

Tue 15 SeptHuman-Computer Interaction
The gist
Analyzing complex airflow and other effects inside turbomachinery devices can be difficult and requires specialized visualization tools. The authors created CATVis, a system where multiple AI agents work together to turn natural language requests, like 'find vortices,' into step-by-step visualization workflows. These workflows help engineers see and understand the data clearly. The system improves accuracy by breaking down the process into stages and refining the output using domain knowledge.
Open → 2609.16598v1