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Progress in the development of combustor technology to meet the standards for the allowable pollutant emission levels of aircraft gas turbine engines is reported. The high-bypass-ratio turbofan engines which power the large commercial aircraft were emphasized along with efforts to reduce emission for near term applications. Recommendations for continuing research to reduce emissions to meet far term needs are given.
The impacts of broad property fuels on the design, performance, durability, emissions, and operational characteristics of current and advanced combustors for commercial aircraft gas turbine engines were studied. The effect of fuel thermal stability on engine and airframe fuel system was evaluated. Tradeoffs between fuel properties, exhaust emissions, and combustor life were also investigated. Results indicate major impacts of broad property fuels on allowable metal temperatures in fuel manifolds and injector support, combustor cyclic durability, and somewhat lesser impacts on starting characteristics, lightoff, emissions, and smoke.
Tests were conducted on a nominal 14:1 fixed-ratio Nasvytis multiroller traction drive retrofitted as the speed reducer in an automotive gas turbine engine. Power turbine speeds of 45,000 rpm and a drive output power of 102 kW (137 hp) were reached. The drive operated under both variable roller loading (proportional to torque) and fixed roller loading (automatic loading mechanism locked). The drive operated smoothly and efficiently as the engine speed reducer. Engine specific fuel consumption with the traction speed reducer was comparable to that with the original helical gearset.
This paper presents a dynamic analysis of a two-spool gas turbine helicopter engine incorporating intershaft rolling element bearings between the gas generator and power turbine rotors. The analysis includes the nonlinear effects of a squeeze film bearing incorporated on the gas generator rotor. The analysis includes critical speeds and forced response of the system and indicates that substantial dynamic loads may be imposed on the intershaft bearings and main bearing supports with an improperly designed squeeze film bearing. A comparison of theoretical and experimental gas generator rotor response is presented illustrating the nonlinear characteristics of the squeeze film bearing. It was found that large intershaft bearing forces may occur even though the engine is not operating at a resonant condition.
Research on combustion is being conducted at Lewis Research Center to provide improved analytical models of the complex flow and chemical reaction processes which occur in the combustor of gas turbine engines and other aeropropulsion systems. The objective of the research is to obtain a better understanding of the various physical processes that occur in the gas turbine combustor in order to develop models and numerical codes which can accurately describe these processes. Activities include in-house research projects, university grants, and industry contracts and are classified under the subject areas of advanced numerics, fuel sprays, fluid mixing, and radiation-chemistry. Results are high-lighted from several projects.
Research on combustion is being conducted at Lewis Research Center to provide improved analytical models of the complex flow and chemical reaction processes which occur in the combustor of gas turbine engines and other aeropropulsion systems. The objective of the research is to obtain a better understanding of the various physical processes that occur in the gas turbine combustor in order to develop models and numerical codes which can accurately describe these processes. Activities include in-house research projects, university grants, and industry contracts and are classified under the subject areas of advanced numerics, fuel sprays, fluid mixing, and radiation-chemistry. Results are high-lighted from several projects.
Small variations in fuel/air mixture ratios within gas turbine combustors can result in measurable, and potentially detrimental, exit thermal gradients. Thermal gradients can increase emissions, as well as shorten the design life of downstream turbomachinery, particularly stator vanes. Uniform temperature profiles are usually sought through careful design and manufacturing of related combustor components. However, small componentto-component variations as well as numerous aging effects degrade system performance. To compensate for degraded thermal performance, researchers are investigating active, closed-loop control schemes.
Fuel-air premixing-prevaporizing systems and commercial catalysts were studied as part of a demonstration of a low emissions combustor for an automotive gas turbine engine. A fuel preparation system which would supply a fuel-air mixture which was uniform to within + or - 10 percent of the mean fuel-air ratio, with 90 percent fuel vaporization and with no autoignition is described. The catalytic reactor was required to produce emissions which were low enough to meet the most stringent proposed U.S. automotive standards. The overall pressure drop for both systems was to be less than 3 percent, with 1 percent allowed in the fuel-air preparation system and the remainder in the catalytic reactor.
Size exclusion chromatography was used to determine the chemical degradation of MIL-L-27502 oil samples from a gas turbine engine test run at a bulk oil temperature of 216 C. Results revealed a progressive loss of primary ester and additive depletion and the formation of higher molecular weight products with time. The high molecular weight products absorbed strongly in the ultraviolet indicating the presence of chromophoric groups.
Research on combustion is being conducted to provide improved analytical models of the complex flow and chemical reaction processes which occur in the combustor of gas turbine engines, in order to enable engine manufacturers to reduce the development time of these concepts. The elements of the combustion fundamentals program is briefly discussed with examples of research projects described more fully. Combustion research will continue to emphasize the development of analytical models and the support of these models with fundamental flow experiments to assess the models accuracy and shortcomings.
Research on combustion is being conducted to provide improved analytical models of the complex flow and chemical reaction processes which occur in the combustor of gas turbine engines, in order to enable engine manufacturers to reduce the development time of these concepts. The elements of the combustion fundamentals program is briefly discussed with examples of research projects described more fully. Combustion research will continue to emphasize the development of analytical models and the support of these models with fundamental flow experiments to assess the models accuracy and shortcomings. Previously announced in STAR as N83-20947
This report summarizes the results of a six month study that addressed specific issues to transfer the Pd-13Cr static strain sensor to a gas turbine engine environment. The application issues that were addressed include: (1) evaluation of a miniature, variable potentiometer for use as the ballast resistor, in conjunction with a conventional strain gage signal conditioning unit; (2) evaluation of a metal sheathed, platinum conductor leadwire assembly for use with the three-wire sensor; and (3) subjecting the sensor to dynamic strain cyclic testing to determine fatigue characteristics. Results indicate a useful static strain gage system at all temperature levels up to 1350 F. The fatigue characteristics also appear to be very promising, indicating a potential use in dynamic strain measurement applications. The procedure, set-up, and data for all tests are presented in this report. This report also discusses the specific strain gage installation technique for the Pd-13Cr gage because of its potential impact on the quality of the output data.
The status of several coating programs is reviewed. These include efforts on protecting aircraft gas turbine engine materials from oxidation/corrosion and on protecting refractory metal reentry heat shields from oxidation.
A variable orifice system is described that is responsive to compressor inlet pressure and temperature, compressor discharge pressure and rotational speed of a gas-turbine engine. It is incorporated into a hydraulic circuit that includes a zero gradient pump driven at a speed proportional to the speed of the engine. The resulting system provides control of fuel rate for starting, steady running, acceleration and deceleration under varying altitudes and flight speeds.
The NASA-Lewis Research Center (LeRC) has conducted, and has sponsored with industry and universities, extensive research into many of the technology areas related to gas turbine propulsion systems. This aerospace-related technology has been developed at both the component and systems level, and may have significant potential for application to the automotive gas turbine engine. This paper summarizes this technology and lists the associated references. The technology areas are system steady-state and transient performance prediction techniques, compressor and turbine design and performance prediction programs and effects of geometry, combustor technology and advanced concepts, and ceramic coatings and materials technology.
A NASA ceramic thermal barrier coating (TBC) system was tested by industrial and governmental organizations for a variety of aeronautical marine, and ground-based gas-turbine engine applications. This TBC is a two-layer system with a bond coating of nickel-chromium-aluminum-yttrium (Ni-16Cr-6Al-0.6Y, in wt %) and a ceramic coating of yttria stabilized zirconia (ZrO2-12Y2O3, in wt %). Tests (Liebert and Stenka, 1979) have been conducted to determine corrosion resistance, thermal protection, durability, thermal conductivity, and fatigue characteristics. The information presented covers some of the significant test results obtained on the first three items. The information also includes photographs of coated parts after tests, measurements of coating loss, amount of metal wall temperature reduction when the TBC is used, and extent of base metal corrosion.
The objective was to assess current ceramic materials, fabrication processes, reliability prediction, and stator durability when subjected to simulated automotive gas turbine engine operating conditions. Ceramic one-piece stators were fabricated of two materials, silicon nitride and silicon carbide, using two near-net-shape processes, slip casting and injection molding. Non-destructive evaluation tests were conducted on all stators identifying irregularities which could contribute to failures under durability testing. Development of the test rig and automatic control system for repeatably controlling air flow rate and temperature over a highly transient durability duty cycle is discussed. Durability results are presented for repeated thermal cycle testing of the ceramic one-piece stators. Two duty cycles were used, encompassing the temperature ranges of 704 to 1204 C (1300 to 2200 F) and 871 to 1371 C (1600 to 2500 F). Tests were conducted on 28 stators, accumulating 135,551 cycles in 2441 hours of hot testing. Cyclic durability for the ceramic one-piece stator was demonstrated to be in excess of 500 hours, accumulating over 28,850 thermal cycles. Ceramic interface forces were found to be the significant factor in limiting stator life rather than the scatter in material strength properties or the variation in component defects encountered.
The ballistic impact resistance of hybrid composite sandwich structures was evaluated with the ultimate goal of developing new materials or structures for potential gas turbine engine fan containment applications. The sandwich structures investigated consisted of GLARE-5 laminates as face sheets with lightweight cellular metallic materials such as honeycomb, foam, and lattice block as a core material. The impact resistance of these hybrid sandwich structures was compared to GLARE-5 laminates and 2024-T3 Al sheet, which were tested as a function of areal weight (material thickness). The GLARE-5 laminates exhibited comparable impact properties to that of 2024-T3 Al at low areal weights, even though there were significant differences in the static tensile properties of these materials. The GLARE-5, however, did have a greater ballistic limit than straight aluminum sheet at higher areal weights. Furthermore, there is up to a 25% advantage in ballistic limit for the GLARE-5/foam sandwich structures compared to straight 2024-T3 Al. But no advantage in ballistic limit was observed between any of the hybrid sandwich structures and thicker versions of GLARE-5. Recommendations for future work are provided, based on these preliminary data.