Exploration of Compact Combustors for Reheat Cycle Aero Engine Applications

Author(s):  
J. Zelina ◽  
D. T. Shouse ◽  
J. S. Stutrud ◽  
G. J. Sturgess ◽  
W. M. Roquemore

An aero gas turbine engine has been proposed that uses a near-constant-temperature (NCT) cycle and an Inter-Turbine Burner (ITB) to provide large amounts of power extraction from the low-pressure turbine. This level of energy is achieved with a modest temperature rise across the ITB. The additional energy can be used to power a large geared fan for an ultra-high bypass ratio transport aircraft, or to drive an alternator for large amounts of electrical power extraction. Conventional gas turbines engines cannot drive ultra-large diameter fans without causing excessively high turbine temperatures, and cannot meet high power extraction demands without a loss of engine thrust. Reducing the size of the combustion system is key to make use of a NCT gas turbine cycle. Ultra-compact combustor (UCC) concepts are being explored experimentally. These systems use high swirl in a circumferential cavity about the engine centerline to enhance reaction rates via high cavity g-loading on the order of 3000 g’s. Any increase in reaction rate can be exploited to reduce combustor volume. The UCC design integrates compressor and turbine features which will enable a shorter and potentially less complex gas turbine engine. This paper will present experimental data of the Ultra-Compact Combustor (UCC) performance in vitiated flow. Vitiation levels were varied from 12–20% oxygen levels to simulate exhaust from the high pressure turbine (HPT). Experimental results from the ITB at atmospheric pressure indicate that the combustion system operates at 97–99% combustion efficiency over a wide range of operating conditions burning JP-8 +100 fuel. Flame lengths were extremely short, at about 50% of those seen in conventional systems. A wide range of operation is possible with lean blowout fuel-air ratio limits at 25–50% below the value of current systems. These results are significant because the ITB only requires a small (300°F) temperature rise for optimal power extraction, leading to operation of the ITB at near-lean-blowout limits of conventional combustor designs. This data lays the foundation for the design space required for future engine designs.

Author(s):  
E. A. Ogiriki ◽  
Y. G. Li ◽  
Th. Nikolaidis

Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) have been widely used in the power generation industry to protect turbine blades from damage in hostile operating environment. This allows either a high turbine entry temperature (TET) to be employed or a low percentage of cooling air to be used, both of which will improve the performance and efficiency of gas turbine engines. However, with continuous increases in TET aimed at improving the performance and efficiency of gas turbines, TBCs have become more susceptible to oxidation. Such oxidation has been largely responsible for the premature failure of most TBCs. Nevertheless, existing creep life prediction models that give adequate considerations to the effects of TBC oxidation on creep life are rare. The implication is that the creep life of gas turbines may be estimated more accurately if TBC oxidation is considered. In this paper, a performance-based integrated creep life model has been introduced with the capability of assessing the impact of TBC oxidation on the creep life and performance of gas turbines. The model comprises of a thermal, stress, oxidation, performance, and life estimation models. High pressure turbine (HPT) blades are selected as the life limiting component of gas turbines. Therefore, the integrated model was employed to investigate the effect of several operating conditions on the HPT blades of a model gas turbine engine using a creep factor (CF) approach. The results show that different operating conditions can significantly affect the oxidation rates of TBCs which in turn affect the creep life of HPT blades. For instance, TBC oxidation can speed up the overall life usage of a gas turbine engine from 4.22% to 6.35% within a one-year operation. It is the objective of this research that the developed method may assist gas turbine users in selecting the best mission profile that will minimize maintenance and operating costs while giving the best engine availability.


Author(s):  
Eugene P. Weinert ◽  
Gilbert A. Carlton

The gas-turbine engine in naval service is subjected to severe operating conditions. By far the most consistent troublemaker is sea salt. In either liquid or solid state, sea salt causes problems in corrosion of hot and cold surfaces, fouling of fuel systems, and deterioration of compressor performance. Such problems are reviewed and solutions discussed.


Author(s):  
E. A. Ogiriki ◽  
Y. G. Li ◽  
Th. Nikolaidis

Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBC) have been widely used in the power generation industry to protect turbine blades from damage in hostile operating environment. This allows either a high Turbine Entry temperature (TET) to be employed or a low percentage of cooling air to be used, both of which will improve the performance and efficiency of gas turbine engines. However, with continuous increases in turbine entry temperature aimed at improving the performance and efficiency of gas turbines, TBCs have become more susceptible to oxidation. Such oxidation has been largely responsible for the premature failure of most TBCs. Nevertheless, existing creep life prediction models that give adequate considerations to the effects of TBC oxidation on creep life are rare. The implication is that the creep life of gas turbines may be estimated more accurately if TBC oxidation is considered. In this paper, a performance-based integrated creep life model has been introduced with the capability of assessing the impact of TBC oxidation on the creep life and performance of gas turbines. The model comprises of a thermal, stress, oxidation, performance, and life estimation models. High Pressure Turbine (HPT) blades are selected as the life limiting component of the gas turbine. Therefore the integrated model was employed to investigate the effect of several operating conditions on the HPT blades of a model gas turbine engine using a Creep Factor approach. The results show that different operating conditions can significantly affect the oxidation rates of TBCs which in turn affect the creep life of HPT blades. For instance, TBC oxidation can speed up the overall life usage of a gas turbine engine from 4.22% to 6.35% within one year operation. It is the objective of this research that the developed method may assist gas turbine users in selecting the best mission profile that will minimize maintenance and operating costs while giving the best engine availability.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 389
Author(s):  
Jinfu Liu ◽  
Zhenhua Long ◽  
Mingliang Bai ◽  
Linhai Zhu ◽  
Daren Yu

As one of the core components of gas turbines, the combustion system operates in a high-temperature and high-pressure adverse environment, which makes it extremely prone to faults and catastrophic accidents. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the combustion system to detect in a timely way whether its performance has deteriorated, to improve the safety and economy of gas turbine operation. However, the combustor outlet temperature is so high that conventional sensors cannot work in such a harsh environment for a long time. In practical application, temperature thermocouples distributed at the turbine outlet are used to monitor the exhaust gas temperature (EGT) to indirectly monitor the performance of the combustion system, but, the EGT is not only affected by faults but also influenced by many interference factors, such as ambient conditions, operating conditions, rotation and mixing of uneven hot gas, performance degradation of compressor, etc., which will reduce the sensitivity and reliability of fault detection. For this reason, many scholars have devoted themselves to the research of combustion system fault detection and proposed many excellent methods. However, few studies have compared these methods. This paper will introduce the main methods of combustion system fault detection and select current mainstream methods for analysis. And a circumferential temperature distribution model of gas turbine is established to simulate the EGT profile when a fault is coupled with interference factors, then use the simulation data to compare the detection results of selected methods. Besides, the comparison results are verified by the actual operation data of a gas turbine. Finally, through comparative research and mechanism analysis, the study points out a more suitable method for gas turbine combustion system fault detection and proposes possible development directions.


Author(s):  
P. A. Phillips ◽  
Peter Spear

After briefly summarizing worldwide automotive gas turbine activity, the paper analyses the power plant requirements of a wide range of vehicle applications in order to formulate the design criteria for acceptable vehicle gas turbines. Ample data are available on the thermodynamic merits of various gas turbine cycles; however, the low cost of its piston engine competitor tends to eliminate all but the simplest cycles from vehicle gas turbine considerations. In order to improve the part load fuel economy, some complexity is inevitable, but this is limited to the addition of a glass ceramic regenerator in the 150 b.h.p. engine which is described in some detail. The alternative further complications necessary to achieve satisfactory vehicle response at various power/weight ratios are examined. Further improvement in engine performance will come by increasing the maximum cycle temperature. This can be achieved at lower cost by the extension of the use of ceramics. The paper is intended to stimulate the design application of the gas turbine engine.


1992 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 763-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. Watts ◽  
T. E. Dwan ◽  
C. G. Brockus

An analog fuel control for a gas turbine engine was compared with several state-space derived fuel controls. A single-spool, simple cycle gas turbine engine was modeled using ACSL (high level simulation language based on FORTRAN). The model included an analog fuel control representative of existing commercial fuel controls. The ACSL model was stripped of nonessential states to produce an eight-state linear state-space model of the engine. The A, B, and C matrices, derived from rated operating conditions, were used to obtain feedback control gains by the following methods: (1) state feedback; (2) LQR theory; (3) Bellman method; and (4) polygonal search. An off-load transient followed by an on-load transient was run for each of these fuel controls. The transient curves obtained were used to compare the state-space fuel controls with the analog fuel control. The state-space fuel controls did better than the analog control.


Author(s):  
Douglas A. Pennell ◽  
Mirko R. Bothien ◽  
Andrea Ciani ◽  
Victor Granet ◽  
Ghislain Singla ◽  
...  

This paper introduces and presents validation of the Constant Pressure Sequential Combustion system (denoted CPSC), a second generation concept developed for and applied to the new Ansaldo GT36 H-class gas turbine combustors. It has evolved from the well-established sequential burner technology applied to all current GT26 and GT24 gas turbines, and contains all architectural improvements implemented since original inception of this engine frame in 1994, with beneficial effects on the operation turndown, fuel flexibility, on the overall system robustness, and featuring the required aspects to stay competitive in the present day energy market. The applied air and fuel management therefore facilitate emission and dynamics control at both the extremely high and low firing temperature ranges required for existing and future Ansaldo gas turbine engine classes.


Author(s):  
Godwin Ita Ekong ◽  
Christopher A. Long ◽  
Peter R. N. Childs

Compressor tip clearance for a gas turbine engine application is the radial gap between the stationary compressor casing and the rotating blades. The gap varies significantly during different operating conditions of the engine due to centrifugal forces on the rotor and differential thermal expansions in the discs and casing. The tip clearance in the axial flow compressor of modern commercial civil aero-engines is of significance in terms of both mechanical integrity and performance. In general, the clearance is of critical importance to civil airline operators and their customers alike because as the clearance between the compressor blade tips and the casing increases, the aerodynamic efficiency will decrease and therefore the specific fuel consumption and operating costs will increase. This paper reports on the development of a range of concepts and their evaluation for the reduction and control of tip clearance in H.P. compressors using an enhanced heat transfer coefficient approach. This would lead to improvement in cruise tip clearances. A test facility has been developed for the study at the University of Sussex, incorporating a rotor and an inner shaft scaled down from a Rolls-Royce Trent aero-engine to a ratio of 0.7:1 with a rotational speed of up to 10000 rpm. The idle and maximum take-off conditions in the square cycle correspond to in-cavity rotational Reynolds numbers of 3.1×106 ≤ Reφ ≤ 1.0×107. The project involved modelling of the experimental facilities, to demonstrate proof of concept. The analysis shows that increasing the thermal response of the high pressure compressor (HPC) drum of a gas turbine engine assembly will reduce the drum time constant, thereby reducing the re-slam characteristics of the drum causing a reduction in the cold build clearance (CBC), and hence the reduction in cruise clearance. A further reduction can be achieved by introducing radial inflow into the drum cavity to further increase the disc heat transfer coefficient in the cavity; hence a further reduction in disc drum time constant.


In the past three decades, it is very challenging for the researchers to design and development a best gas turbine engine component. Engine component has to face different operating conditions at different working environments. Nickel based superalloys are the best material to design turbine components. Inconel 718, Inconel 617, Hastelloy, Monel and Udimet are the common material used for turbine components. Directional solidification is one of the conventional casting routes followed to develop turbine blades. It is also reported that the raw materials are heat treated / age hardened to enrich the desired properties of the material implementation. Accordingly they are highly susceptible to mechanical and thermal stresses while operating. The hot section of the turbine components will experience repeated thermal stress. The halides in the combination of sulfur, chlorides and vanadate are deposited as molten salt on the surface of the turbine blade. On prolonged exposure the surface of the turbine blade starts to peel as an oxide scale. Microscopic images are the supportive results to compare the surface morphology after complete oxidation / corrosion studies. The spectroscopic results are useful to identify the elemental analysis over oxides formed. The predominant oxides observed are NiO, Cr2O3, Fe2O3 and NiCr2O4. These oxides are vulnerable on prolonged exposure and according to PB ratio the passivation are very less. In recent research, the invention on nickel based superalloys turbine blades produced through other advanced manufacturing process is also compared. A summary was made through comparing the conventional material and advanced materials performance of turbine blade material for high temperature performance.


Author(s):  
J. D. MacLeod ◽  
W. Grabe

The Machinery and Engine Technology (MET) Program of the National Research Council of Canada (NRCC) has established a program for the evaluation of sensors to measure gas turbine engine performance accurately. The precise measurement of fuel flow is an essential part of steady-state gas turbine performance assessment. Prompted by an international engine testing and information exchange program, and a mandate to improve all aspects of gas turbine performance evaluation, the MET Laboratory has critically examined two types of fuel flowmeters, Coriolis and turbine. The two flowmeter types are different in that the Coriolis flowmeter measures mass flow directly, while the turbine flowmeter measures volumetric flow, which must be converted to mass flow for conventional performance analysis. The direct measurement of mass flow, using a Coriolis flowmeter, has many advantages in field testing of gas turbines, because it reduces the risk of errors resulting from the conversion process. Turbine flowmeters, on the other hand, have been regarded as an industry standard because they are compact, rugged, reliable, and relatively inexpensive. This paper describes the project objectives, the experimental installation, and the results of the comparison of the Coriolis and turbine type flowmeters in steady-state performance testing. Discussed are variations between the two types of flowmeters due to fuel characteristics, fuel handling equipment, acoustic and vibration interference and installation effects. Also included in this paper are estimations of measurement uncertainties for both types of flowmeters. Results indicate that the agreement between Coriolis and turbine type flowmeters is good over the entire steady-state operating range of a typical gas turbine engine. In some cases the repeatability of the Coriolis flowmeter is better than the manufacturers specification. Even a significant variation in fuel density (10%), and viscosity (300%), did not appear to compromise the ability of the Coriolis flowmeter to match the performance of the turbine flowmeter.


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