Topfarm3 Brief

Motivation: During 2025 and 2026 we have several deliverables for projects, Meridional, Twain, Sudoco relying on the Topfarm framework and to support this as well as adding missing features Topfarm needs several updates.

Tasks:

• Cost models for wind. Currently we have only un-verified cost models implemented in Topfarm. We propose to introduce a library of cost models with tests and verification against the original implementations. This entails the DTU Offshore Cost Model, the DTU Minimalistic Cost Model, the Innwind Cost Model and support for external cost models like the NREL Cost and Scaling Model, 300h (ernim 250, mikf 50)
• Develop robustness to make it suitable for multidisciplinary optimization. This includes, fallback mechanics if no solution is found as well as gradient considerations, 50 h (ernim 40, mikf 10)
• Notebook showing how to use Cost Models for Wind with Topfarm, 20h (ernim 15, mikf 5)
• Notebook showing how to use Cost Models for Wind with HyDesign, 20h (ernim 15, mikf 5)
• Topfarm Commander prototype: A new level above the topfarm problem level is needed to run an ensemble of different optimizations, monitor them and being able to tweak, kill or restart them. It’s proposed that AI/ML is utilized here and e.g. MongoDB as monitoring tool. The commander should also be able to support HyDesign problems. 400h (ernim 300, mikf 100)
• Notebook showing how to use Topfarm Commander with Topfarm, 20h (ernim 15, mikf 5)
• Notebook showing how to use Topfarm Commander with HyDesign, 20h (ernim 15, mikf 5)
• Create documentation, 20h (ernim 15, mikf 5)
• Unit tests, 50h (ernim 40, mikf 10)
• MDO Framework: We have reached some limitations with the use of OpenMDAO framework as the backbone. CSDL (from the same developers and still collaborating with OpenMDAO/NASA) is a promising alternative, as well as meeting the request for using the framework with pure python. This task includes updating the MDO framework while keeping compatibility with legacy Topfarm (Topfarm2) workflows. It will also be investigated if the linear solver can be used more natively in this framework. 400h (mikf 350, ernim 50)