Project description
A flow control system for gas turbines
Turbine engines are the common form of propulsion system used by modern aircraft. As a result, engines internal flow control is essential for stable operation of the gas turbines, and thus the aeronautics industry aims to increase its technology readiness level (TRL) in this field. The EU-funded ACONIT project will design, produce and demonstrate actuators for flow control that will be integrated into a compressor stage of a full-scale aircraft engine. The project will firstly increase knowledge of the flow physics of an effective surge control system by combining numerical and experimental analysis. The results will be applied to obtain the fluidic details for a high-TRL actuators and gas flow control system.
Objective
The objective of the ACONIT project is to design, manufacture and test actuators for flow control for an implantation in an aircraft engine. The actuators will fulfill aeronautics requirement in order to increase the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) in this domain. In particular, for the present proposal, one plans to focus on the extension of the stable operating range of axial compressor, allowing thus a reduction of the surge margin through postponing the stall onset. To do so, the first objective of the work is to improve the knowledge of the flow physics of an efficient flow control system by joint numerical and experimental analysis performed in a low speed, single stage axial compressor. The results of this analysis will be used to derive the fluidic specifications for a high TRL actuators and control system. These specifications will be the base for the design and manufacturing of amplified Piezo-electric actuator prototypes whose fluidic performance and operational performance in an environment with vibration and controlled level of temperature will be precisely evaluated before manufacturing final actuators that will be integrated in a full scale engine test facility. Their performance will be evaluated in terms of Surge Margin Improvement as well as in terms of energy balance between the induced consumption and the machine performance improvements.
The consortium grouped for carrying out this project is composed of a SME (CTEC), two academic institutions (Bundeswehr University Munich and ENSAM) and a Research Center (ONERA). It groups skills ranging from internal flow analysis in turbomachineries, to flow control or actuators design, manufacturing and characterisations.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcontrol systems
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringaircraft
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesclassical mechanicsfluid mechanicsfluid dynamics
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringaeronautical engineering
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
75013 Paris
France