ALBERT

Description: Results of an analytical and experimental investigation, directed at the understanding of the impact of periodic unsteadiness on the time-averaged flows in axial flow turbomachines, are presented. Analysis of available experimental data, from a large-scale rotating rig (LSRR) (low speed rig), shows that in the time-averaged axisymmetric equations the magnitude of the terms representing the effect of periodic unsteadiness (deterministic stresses) are as large or larger than those due to random unsteadiness (turbulence). Numerical experiments, conducted to highlight physical mechanisms associated with the migration of combustor generated hot-streaks in turbine rotors, indicated that the effect can be simulated by accounting for deterministic stress like terms in the time-averaged mass and energy conservation equations. The experimental portion of this program shows that the aerodynamic loss for the second stator in a 1-1/2 stage turbine are influenced by the axial spacing between the second stator leading edge and the rotor trailing edge. However, the axial spacing has little impact on the heat transfer coefficient. These performance changes are believed to be associated with the change in deterministic stress at the inlet to the second stator. Data were also acquired to quantify the impact of indexing the first stator relative to the second stator. For the range of parameters examined, this effect was found to be of the same order as the effect of axial spacing.

Description: This report presents the results of a research program on inlet distortion in engines on VSTOL aircraft carried out at the MIT Gas Turbine Laboratory during the period Oct. 1989 - Dec. 1993. The program focused on the development of three dimensional flow computational methodology for predicting the effects of nonuniform flow on the performance of aircraft engines in VSTOL aircraft, the development of a three dimensional instability analysis of flow in multistage axial compressors, and the preliminary applications of these newly developed methodologies for elucidating the effects of flow three dimensionality. The accomplishments of the program are brought out when the current status of predictive capabilities for three dimensional flow instabilities in compressors is assessed against that in 1989.

Description: This report documents an experimental and analytical study of the active stabilization of surge in a centrifugal engine. The aims of the research were to extend the operating range of a compressor as far as possible and to establish the theoretical framework for the active stabilization of surge from both an aerodynamic stability and a control theoretic perspective. In particular, much attention was paid to understanding the physical limitations of active stabilization and how they are influenced by control system design parameters. Previously developed linear models of actively stabilized compressors were extended to include such nonlinear phenomena as bounded actuation, bandwidth limits, and robustness criteria. This model was then used to systematically quantify the influence of sensor-actuator selection on system performance. Five different actuation schemes were considered along with four different sensors. Sensor-actuator choice was shown to have a profound effect on the performance of the stabilized compressor. The optimum choice was not unique, but rather shown to be a strong function of some of the non-dimensional parameters which characterize the compression system dynamics. Specifically, the utility of the concepts were shown to depend on the system compliance to inertia ratio ('B' parameter) and the local slope of the compressor speedline. In general, the most effective arrangements are ones in which the actuator is most closely coupled to the compressor, such as a close-coupled bleed valve inlet jet, rather than elsewhere in the flow train, such as a fuel flow modulator. The analytical model was used to explore the influence of control system bandwidth on control effectiveness. The relevant reference frequency was shown to be the compression system's Helmholtz frequency rather than the surge frequency. The analysis shows that control bandwidths of three to ten times the Helmholtz frequency are required for larger increases in the compressor flow range. This has important implications for implementation in gas turbine engines since the Helmholtz frequencies can be over 100 Hz, making actuator design extremely challenging.