bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Evolutionary Algorithm for Enhanced Gas Path Analysis in Turbofan Engines
Authors: Rootliep T. O. , Visser W. P. J. , Nollet M. 
Published: September 2021

Abstract
Adaptive modelling (AM) based Gas Path Analysis (GPA) is a powerful diagnostic and prognostic technique for turbofan engine maintenance. This involves the assessment of turbofan component condition using thermodynamic models that can iteratively adapt to measurements values in the gas path by changing component condition parameters. The problem with this approach is that newer turbofan engines such as the General Electric GEnx-1B have fewer gas path sensors installed causing the AM equation systems to become underdetermined. To overcome this problem, a novel approach has been developed that combines the AM model with an Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) optimization scheme and applies it to multiple operating points. Additionally, these newer turbofan engines provide performance data continuously during flight. Information on variable geometry and bleed valve position, active clearance control state and power off-take is included and can be accounted for to further enhance AM model accuracy. A procedure is proposed where the selection of operating points is based on steady-state stability requirements, cycle model operating point uncertainty and parameter outlier filtering. The Gas turbine Simulation Program (GSP) is used as the non-linear GPA modelling environment. A Multiple Operating Point Analysis (MOPA) is chosen to overcome the problem of underdetermination by utilizing multiple data sets at different operating points. The EA finds the best fit of health parameter deviations by minimizing the multi-point objective function using the GSP AM model. A sub-form of the EA class named Differential Evolution (DE) has been chosen as the optimizer. Like all EAs, DE is a parallel direct search method in which a population of parameter vectors evolves following genetic operations towards an optimum output candidate.
The resulting hybrid GPA tool has been verified by solving for different simulated deterioration cases of a GSP model. The tool can identify the direction and magnitude of condition deviation of 10 health parameters using 6 gas path sensors. It has subsequently been validated using historical in-flight data of the GEnx-1B engine. It has demonstrated successful tracking of engine component condition for all 10 health parameters and identification of events such as turbine blade failure and water washes. The authors conclude that the tool has proven significant potential to enhance turbofan engine condition monitoring accuracy for minimizing maintenance costs and increasing safety and reliability.
Aero-Thermal Characterization of Accelerating and Diffusing Passages Downstream of Rotating Detonation Combustors
Authors: Braun James , Paniagua Guillermo , Ferguson Donald 
Published: September 2021

Abstract
Cycle benefits of rotating detonation engines show up to five percentage points of efficiency gain for low-pressure ratio engines. An optimal integration between the combustor and the turbine needs to be guaranteed to realize this potential gain. The rotating detonation combustor (RDC) exhausts transonic flow with shocks rotating at frequencies ranging from a few to tens of kilohertz depending on the number of present waves. Hence, the turbine design requires precise knowledge of the fluctuations and losses downstream of the combustor. This paper focuses on the quantification of fluctuations and losses for accelerating and diffusing passages. The analysis of the combustor is performed via reactive unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) simulations. The unsteady RANS equations are solved via CFD++ from Metacomp with a one-step reaction mechanism for an H2-air mixture. The resolving of the boundary layer is achieved with a structured mesh of around 36 million cells. Inlet pressure of 10 bar and two different back pressures are applied to the combustor to model the interconnection with downstream turbines. Finally, we present and assess a methodology to reduce the computational time to model these passages ten times.
Relative Effects of Velocity- and Mixture-Coupling in a Thermoacoustically Unstable, Partially-Premixed Flame
Authors: Karmarker Ashwini , O’Connor Jacqueline , Boxx Isaac 
Published: September 2021

Abstract
Combustion instability, which is the result of a coupling between combustor acoustic modes and unsteady flame heat release rate, is a severely limiting factor in the operability and performance of modern gas turbine engines. This coupling can occur through different coupling pathways, such as flow field fluctuations or equivalence ratio fluctuations. In realistic combustor systems, there are complex hydrodynamic and thermo-chemical processes involved, which can lead to multiple coupling pathways. In order to understand and predict the mechanisms that govern the onset of combustion instability in real gas turbine engines, we consider the influences that each of these coupling pathways can have on the stability and dynamics of a partially-premixed, swirl-stabilized flame. In this study, we use a model gas turbine combustor with two concentric swirling nozzles of air, separated by a ring of fuel injectors, operating at an elevated pressure of 5 bar. The flow split between the two streams is systematically varied to observe the impact on the flow and flame dynamics. High-speed stereoscopic particle image velocimetry, OH planar laser-induced fluorescence, and acetone planar laser-induced fluorescence are used to obtain information about the velocity field, flame, and fuel-flow behavior, respectively. Depending on the flow conditions, a thermoacoustic oscillation mode or a hydrodynamic mode, identified as the precessing vortex core, is present. The focus of this study is to characterize the mixture coupling processes in this partially-premixed flame as well as the impact that the velocity oscillations have on mixture coupling. Our results show that, for this combustor system, changing the flow split between the two concentric nozzles can alter the dominant harmonic oscillation modes in the system, which can significantly impact the dispersion of fuel into air, thereby modulating the local equivalence ratio of the flame. This insight can be used to design instability control mechanisms in real gas turbine engines.
Describing the Mechanism of Instability Suppression Using a Central Pilot Flame With Coupled Experiments and Simulations
Authors: Li Jihang , Kwon Hyunguk , Seksinsky Drue , Doleiden Daniel , O’Connor Jacqueline , Xuan Yuan , Akiki Michel , Blust James 
Published: September 2021

Abstract
Pilot flames are commonly used to extend combustor operability limits and suppress combustion oscillations in low-emissions gas turbines. Combustion oscillations, a coupling between heat release rate oscillations and combustor acoustics, can arise at the operability limits of low-emissions combustors where the flame is more susceptible to perturbations. While the use of pilot flames is common in land-based gas turbine combustors, the mechanism by which they suppress instability is still unclear. In this study, we consider the impact of a central jet pilot on the stability of a swirl-stabilized flame in a variable-length, single-nozzle combustor. Previously, the pilot flame was found to suppress the instability for a range of equivalence ratios and combustor lengths. We hypothesize that combustion oscillation suppression by the pilot occurs because the pilot provides hot gases to the vortex breakdown region of the flow that recirculate and improve the static, and hence dynamic, stability of the main flame. This hypothesis is based on a series of experimental results that show that pilot efficacy is a strong function of pilot equivalence ratio but not pilot flow rate, which would indicate that the temperature of the pilot gases as well as the combustion intensity of the pilot flame play more of a role in oscillation stabilization than the length of the pilot flame relative to the main flame. Further, the pilot flame efficacy increases with pilot flame equivalence ratio until it matches the main flame equivalence ratio; at pilot equivalence ratios greater than the main equivalence ratio, the pilot flame efficacy does not change significantly with pilot equivalence ratio. To understand these results, we use large-eddy simulation to provide a detailed analysis of the flow in the region of the pilot flame and the transport of radical species in the region between the main flame and pilot flame. The simulation, using a flamelet/progress variable-based chemistry tabulation approach and standard eddy viscosity/diffusivity turbulence closure models, provides detailed information that is inaccessible through experimental measurements.
Numerical Investigation of Axial Thrust Control in a Multistage Canned-Motor Pump With Pump-Out-Vanes
Authors: Wang Yintao , Zhang Min , Patil Abhay , Morrison Gerald 
Published: September 2021

Abstract
Axial thrust is one of the critical factors that affect the pump’s continuously operating reliability. Among all the available methods for axial thrust controlling, Pump Out Vanes (POVs) are an easy and effective way. Different from a single-stage pump with a scroll, an in-line multistage pump will have a leakage flow channel from the return channel. With this leakage channel, the working environment of the POVs will be significantly different from a single-stage pump. In this paper, the first stage of a multistage pump with both POVs and casing ribs (vortex breakers) is studied by CFD simulation to evaluate their effect on the axial thrust, pump stage performance, and the internal leakage flow. Because of the similar POV working environment in the multistage pump, the conclusion from one stage can be generalized for the rest stages. In this study, 5 models with different POV outer radius and height are simulated in Ansys Fluent with k-ε turbulence model and transient rotor-stator sliding mesh method. The results show that POVs with suitable geometry can provide good axial thrust control over a wide pump operating range while the stage efficiency can be strongly affected due to the increased turbulence and interstage leakage flow, which is contradicting some previous researcher’s conclusion based on the study of a single-stage centrifugal pump.
Influence of Supersonic Nozzle Design Parameters on the Unsteady Stator-Rotor Interaction in Radial-Inflow Turbines for Organic Rankine Cycles
Authors: Cappiello Alessandro , Tuccillo Raffaele 
Published: September 2021

Abstract
Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology represents an interesting option for improving the efficiency of existing power plants and industrial processes as well as exploiting renewable and renewable-equivalent energy sources.
The use of Radial-Inflow Turbine (RIT) for ORC plant sizes below 100 kW is promising, although the application remains challenging. In fact, the single stage arrangement imposed by economic constraints and hence the large expansion ratio, together with the large molecular weight, which characterizes organic fluids, usually result in highly supersonic flows, so making the use of transonic stators often mandatory.
Particularly, the influence of RIT stator design parameters on losses and the level of unsteadiness seen by the subsequent rotor is still scarcely addressed in published literature.
Previous work by the authors investigated the effect of some stator design parameters on stator loss and downstream circumferential uniformity.
The present work investigates the effect of the convergent-divergent stators design parameters and the resulting downstream flow field non-uniformity on the unsteady stator-rotor interaction and loss generation in ORC Radial-Inflow Turbines.
To this end, two stator and rotor configurations which differ by the stator design parameters (i.e., discharge metal angle and number of vanes) have been tested by means of 3D unsteady CFD calculations accounting for real-gas properties.
The results show that larger stator-rotor interaction is present for the case featuring higher vane count and lower outlet metal, which also features the largest fluctuations of power output and pressure force on blade, together with a substantially lower average total-to-static efficiency.
High Temperature Solid Particle Erosion in a Melt-Infiltrated SiC/SiC Ceramic Matrix Composite
Authors: Presby Michael J. 
Published: September 2021

Abstract
Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) are an enabling propulsion material system that offer weight benefits over current Ni-based superalloys, and have higher temperature capabilities that can reduce cooling requirements. Incorporating CMCs into the hot section of gas-turbine engines therefore leads to an increase in engine efficiency. While significant advancements have been made, challenges still remain for current and next-generation gas-turbines; particularly when operating in dust-laden or erosive environments. Solid particles entrained in the gas flow can impact engine hardware resulting in localized damage and material removal due to repeated, cumulative impacts. In this study, the erosion behavior of a melt-infiltrated (MI) silicon carbide fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (SiC/SiC) CMC is investigated at high temperature (1,200 °C) in a simulated combustion environment using 150 μm alumina particles as erodent. Particle impact velocities ranged from 100 to 200 m/s and the angle of impingement varied from 30° to 90°. Erosion testing was also performed on α-SiC to elucidate similarities and differences in the erosion response of the composite compared to that of a monolithic ceramic. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to study the post-erosion damage morphology and the governing mechanisms of material removal.
Improving Vibration Response of Radial Turbine in Variable Geometry Turbochargers With CFD Analysis
Authors: Gupta Bipin , Yoshida Toyotaka , Ogawa Shinji , Danmoto Yosuke , Yoshimoto Takashi 
Published: September 2021

Abstract
Recent advancements in internal combustion engine for efficient fuel combustion, such as application of miller cycle, where the closing of engine intake valve is purposely delayed to provide more cooling of air-fuel mixture during compression stroke for better engine efficiency, has led to a requirement for turbochargers to function at a wider operating range and higher compression ratio. One of the methods which have been largely accepted is the use of variable geometry turbochargers. As compared to diesel engine, operating conditions for gasoline engine require the turbine to operate at higher exhaust temperature, which increases the risk of damaging the rotor.
This paper discusses a detailed flow analysis of the effect of tip leakage and nozzle vane wake flow on surface pressure distribution of the turbine rotor, especially at the severe condition when vane trailing edge and rotor leading edge are in proximity. It was observed in steady and unsteady CFD simulations that the origination and propagation of tip leakage flow can be varied depending on the blade loading at the rotor leading edge, and the major interaction of nozzle wake can be switched from pressure surface to suction surface as rotor blade crossed a nozzle vane, which can drastically affect the alternating aerodynamic stresses. The sensitivity to this phenomenon has been evaluated by calculating the safety factor.
The authors modified the rotor design to weaken the effect of tip leakage flow in order to suppress variations in rotor surface pressure as it crosses the nozzle vane. It significantly reduced the alternating stress and increased the safety factor at vibration mode 2 from 0.3 to 9.3 and mode 3 from 0.6 to 3.2 respectively.
Global Optimisation of a Transonic Fan Blade Through AI-Enabled Active Subspaces
Authors: Lopez Diego I. , Ghisu Tiziano , Shahpar Shahrokh 
Published: September 2021

Abstract
The increased need to design higher performing aerodynamic shapes has led to design optimisation cycles requiring high-fidelity CFD models and high-dimensional parametrisation schemes. The computational cost of employing global search algorithms on such scenarios has typically been prohibitive for most academic and industrial environments. In this paper, a novel strategy is presented that leverages the capabilities of Artificial Neural Networks for regressing complex unstructured data, while coupling them with dimensionality reduction algorithms. This approach enables employing global-based optimisation methods on high-dimensional applications through a reduced computational cost. This methodology is demonstrated on the efficiency optimisation of a modern jet engine fan blade with constrained pressure ratio. The outcome is compared against a state-of-the-art adjoint-based approach. Results indicate the strategy proposed achieves comparable improvements to its adjoint counterpart with a reduced computational cost, and can scale better to multi-objective optimisation applications.
Characterization of a Newly Designed Test Bench for Investigations of Flame-Wall-Interaction
Authors: Dalshad Rahand , Sander Tobias , Pfitzner Michael 
Published: September 2021

Abstract
For the thermal design of combustion chambers and turbine blades in jet engines, a detailed knowledge of the combustion and of the heat loads to the walls is necessary. In general, high operating temperatures and reduced combustor size are striven for in order to increase engine efficiency and reduce weight. Consequently, the components are exposed to temperatures above the melting point of the materials and there is a growing risk of in-complete combustion within the combustion chambers. To study these effects, we set up a new test bench for fundamental investigation of chemical near-wall reactions at atmospheric pressure. First results of gaseous, non-premixed near-wall CH4/air and H2/air flames are presented. Optical methods such as two-line laser-induced fluorescence themometry and OH* chemiluminescence were applied. Further, the heat release to the wall was determined by means of inverse heat conduction calculation using the data of implemented thermocouples.
Influence of the Tool Wear on the Quality and Service Life of Gears for the Geared Turbofan Technology Machined by Five-Axis Milling
Authors: Lakner Thomas , Zachert Christoph , Greschert René , Schraknepper Daniel , Bergs Thomas 
Published: September 2021

Abstract
The geared turbofan technology is one essential way to reduce the fuel consumption, the environmental footprint and the noise pollution of civil aircrafts. An added gearbox between the fan and the low-pressure compressor that reduces the fan speed, which allows higher bypass ratios, achieves the mentioned benefits of geared turbofans. To withstand the high mechanical loads, large double helical gears are used. Gear hobbing and gear grinding require large tool maneuvering spaces. This leads to a larger required space between the single gears of the double helical gear. As a result, the gears are larger and heavier, which leads to a reduced economy of the aircraft. The tool maneuvering space of five-axis milling with solid carbide end mills is much smaller. This enables the design of smaller, lighter and more efficient aircraft engines. However, manufacturing these gears in tolerances better than IT5 is very challenging on five-axis milling machine tools. This paper presents investigations about finish machining of hardened gears on five-axis machine tools. In the investigations performed, varying tool substrates and tool coatings have been investigated together with tool travel paths in order to reduce the tool wear, which is key to achieve the demanded tolerances. Finally, the five-axis milled gears were compared to conventionally manufactured gears on test benches to enable statements regarding the expectable service lives of the manufactured gears.
A Comparison Between ORC and Supercritical CO2 Bottoming Cycles For Energy Recovery From Industrial Gas Turbines Exhaust Gas
Authors: Ancona M. A. , Bianchi M. , Branchini L. , De Pascale A. , Melino F. , Peretto A. , Torricelli N. 
Published: September 2021

Abstract
Gas turbines are often employed in the industrial field, especially for remote generation, typically required by oil and gas production and transport facilities. The huge amount of discharged heat could be profitably recovered in bottoming cycles, producing electric power to help satisfying the onerous on-site energy demand. The present work aims at systematically evaluating thermodynamic performance of ORC and supercritical CO2 energy systems as bottomer cycles of different small/medium size industrial gas turbine models, with different power rating. The Thermoflex software, providing the GT PRO gas turbine library, has been used to model the machines performance. ORC and CO2 systems specifics have been chosen in line with industrial products, experience and technological limits.
In the case of pure electric production, the results highlight that the ORC configuration shows the highest plant net electric efficiency. The average increment in the overall net electric efficiency is promising for both the configurations (7 and 11 percentage points, respectively if considering supercritical CO2 or ORC as bottoming solution). Concerning the cogenerative performance, the CO2 system exhibits at the same time higher electric efficiency and thermal efficiency, if compared to ORC system, being equal the installed topper gas turbine model. The ORC scarce performance is due to the high condensing pressure, imposed by the temperature required by the thermal user. CO2 configuration presents instead very good cogenerative performance with thermal efficiency comprehended between 35 % and 46 % and the PES value range between 10 % and 22 %. Finally, analyzing the relationship between capital cost and components size, it is estimated that the ORC configuration could introduce an economical saving with respect to the CO2 configuration.
Extension of Harmonic Balance Approach for Large-Eddy Simulation of Unsteady Flows in Cascade
Authors: Iwamoto Yuma , Teramoto Susumu , Okamoto Koji 
Published: September 2021

Abstract
A full scale-resolving simulation of cascades flutter is time consuming because of computational inefficiency owing to its low nondimensional frequencies. To improve the efficiency and reliability of the numerical analyses for such flows, we propose an efficient scale-resolving simulation method dedicated to time-periodic flows by extending the harmonic balance approach to a large-eddy simulation. This method combines convergence calculations of the steady-state problem based on the harmonic balance method for periodic components, and the nonlinear time-marching method for small scale turbulent fluctuations. Using the proposed method, deterministic periodic components and stochastic turbulent fluctuations are calculated simultaneously, and the effect of turbulent fluctuations on deterministic periodic components is directly calculated without using turbulence models. In this paper, we present the algorithm of the simulation technique and the progress of validation calculations for channel flow excited in the streamwise direction.