Session: 19-03: Micro Gas Turbines.

Submission Number: 175458

Performance Assessment of a Recuperated and Micro Gas Turbine for Aviation Applications 

Recently, there has been interest in micro gas turbines (MGTs) for the propulsion of small aircraft. In addition to the simple Brayton cycle configuration, other configurations can potentially be used to reduce specific fuel consumption. The incorporation of a recuperator or a compressor intercooler can increase the cycle efficiency of small aero engines for specific missions. However, the increased MGT efficiency is counterbalanced by a reduction in aircraft performance due to the added weight of the recuperator or an intercooler and hence the overall influence on aircraft performance requires detailed assessment to establish the conditions under which the increased MGT efficiency can have an overall positive effect on the aircraft performance. This paper presents, a simulation framework that was developed and implemented to quantify the performance trade-off between fuel saved from the adoption of a recuperator or an intercooler and the corresponding weight penalty over a wide range of recuperator effectiveness (40%-65%) for a kerosene and hydrogen-fueled MGT. To enable a consistent mission analysis, the aircraft performance was assessed for a wide range of hydrogen gravimetric tank efficiencies. The performance of the Beechcraft King Air F90-1 aircraft powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-135 turboprop engines, running with kerosene or hydrogen was used in a case study and was assessed for a cruise flight mission of four hours. The results show that recuperated and intercooled engines with low heat exchanger effectiveness can improve fuel economy in small kerosene aero engines, making them potentially viable for short-range missions. The optimal heat exchanger effectiveness was found to be 42% for the recuperated and 40% for the intercooled kerosene engines. For hydrogen engines, recuperated and intercooled configurations become beneficial for gravimetric efficiencies above 35% and 33%, respectively. The results indicate that the fuel economy improvements in hydrogen engines are more significant at higher gravimetric efficiencies.

Presenting Author: Rogerio Moreira City St George's, University of London

Presenting Author Biography: Rogerio Moreira worked for several years in the aerospace and defense industries as a Mechanical Engineer. He recently joined City St George's, University of London, as a researcher and PhD student. His research focuses on micro gas turbines for aircraft propulsion.

Authors:

Rogerio Moreira City St George's, University of London
Jafar Al-Zaili City St George's, University of London
Abdulnaser Sayma Brunel University of London