Volume 28, Issue 3

Design of “Next-Generation” airframes based on supermarket-jet-engine-components is nowadays passé. A novel integration methodology [Gal-Or, “Editorial-Review, Part A”, 2011, Gal-Or, “Vectored Propulsion, Supermaneuverability and Robot Aircraft”, Springer Verlag, Gal-Or, Int'l. J. of Thermal and Fluid Sciences 7: 1–6, 1998, “Introduction”, 2011] is nowadays in. For advanced fighter aircraft it begins with JS-based powerplant, which takes up to three times longer to mature vis-à-vis the airframe, unless “committee's design” enforces a dormant catastrophe. Jet Steering (JS) or Thrust Vectoring Flight Control, is a classified, integrated engine-airframe technology aimed at maximizing post-stall-maneuverability, flight safety, efficiency and flight envelopes of manned and unmanned air vehicles, especially in the “impossible-to-fly”, post-stall flight domains where the 100+ years old, stall-spin-limited, Conventional Flight Control fails. Worldwide success in adopting the post-stall, JS-revolution, opens a new era in aviation, with unprecedented design variables identified here for a critical review of F-35 future risks v. future fleets of jet-steered, pilotless vehicles, like the X-47B/C. From the educational point of view, it is also instructive to comprehend the causes of long, intensive opposition to adopt post-stall, JS ideas. A review of such debates may also curb a future opposition to adopt more advanced, JS-based technologies, tests, strategies, tactics and missions within the evolving air, marine and land applications of JS. Most important, re-education of pilots and engineers requires adding post-stall, JS-based studies to curriculum & R&D.

In recent years, the survivability of an aircraft has been put to task more than ever before. One of the main reasons is the increase in the usage of Infrared (IR) guided Anti-Aircraft Missiles, especially due to the availability of Man Portable Air Defence System (MANPADS) with some terrorist groups. Thus, aircraft IR signatures are gaining more importance as compared to their radar, visual, acoustic, or any other signatures. The exhaust plume ejected from the aircraft is one of the important sources of IR signature in military aircraft that use low bypass turbofan engines for propulsion. The focus of the present work is modelling of spectral IR radiation emission from the exhaust jet of a typical military aircraft and to evaluate the aircraft susceptibility in terms of the aircraft lock-on range due to its plume emission, for a simple case against a typical Surface to Air Missile (SAM). The IR signature due to the aircraft plume is examined in a holistic manner. A comprehensive methodology of computing IR signatures and its affect on aircraft lock-on range is elaborated. Commercial CFD software has been used to predict the plume thermo-physical properties and subsequently an in-house developed code was used for evaluating the IR radiation emitted by the plume. The LOWTRAN code has been used for modeling the atmospheric IR characteristics. The results obtained from these models are in reasonable agreement with some available experimental data. The analysis carried out in this paper succinctly brings out the intricacy of the radiation emitted by various gaseous species in the plume and the role of atmospheric IR transmissivity in dictating the plume IR signature as perceived by an IR guided SAM.

Electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA) differs from conventional atomization methods by introducing the Coulomb force, which allows enhanced droplet-size minimizing and mono-dispersion. In this paper we report on such cone-jets experimentation from the energy point of view. Ethanol-liquid solutions of wide-range concentrations are used. The results demonstrate at least three submodes in energy ratio of kinetic energy to surface energy increments.

A critical and integrated view on the profile loss coefficient definitions commonly used in turbomachinery is offered. By solving the compressible flow equations in boundary layers (characterized by their integral parameters) mixing at constant area the dependence of different loss coefficients (total pressure loss and kinetic energy loss coefficient, KSI ) on the Mach number and boundary layer characteristics is investigated. KSI appears as the best parameter to measure the merit of the process since it is fundamentally independent of Mach number and only dependent on the boundary layer parameters. Results from expressions obtained by different formulations and levels of approximations are compared with the solution of the full set of compressible equations. KSI estimated by the expression 2 θ /( t – δ *) + ( δ */ t ) 2 is identified as the best parameter of merit to be used as profile loss coefficient. Additionally a comparison between losses from boundary layers discharging into constant area and discharging into constant pressure is given and the relevance played by the shape parameter, H , in the latter case is remarked.

Gas turbine health monitoring includes the common stages of problem detection, fault identification, and prognostics. To extract useful diagnostic information from raw recorded data, these stages require a preliminary operation of computing differences between measurements and an engine baseline, which is a function of engine operating conditions. These deviations of measured values from the baseline data can be good indicators of engine health. However, their quality and the success of all diagnostic stages strongly depend on the adequacy of the baseline model employed and, in particular, on the mathematical techniques applied to create it. To create a baseline model, we have applied polynomials and the least squares method for computing the coefficients over a long period of time. Methods were proposed to enhance such a polynomial-based model. The resulting accuracy was sufficient for reliable monitoring of gas turbine deterioration effects. The polynomials previously investigated thus far are used in the present study as a standard for evaluating artificial neural networks, a very popular technique in gas turbine diagnostics. The focus of this comparative study is to verify whether the use of networks results in a better description of the engine baseline. Extensive field data for two different industrial gas turbines were used to compare these two techniques under various conditions. The deviations were computed for all available data, and the quality of the resulting deviation plots was compared visually. The mean error of the baseline model was used as an additional criterion for comparing the techniques. To find the best network configurations, many network variations were realised and compared with the polynomials. Although the neural networks studied were found to be close to the polynomials in accuracy, they did not exceed the polynomials in any variation. In this way, it seems that polynomials can be successfully used for engine monitoring, at least for the gas turbines analysed herein.

The numerical investigations of performance evaluation of a hybrid gas turbine engine embedded with a pulse detonation combustor (PDC) were performed to examine the improvement of the performance of the hybrid propulsion system. The calculation model and method were described. The architecture, configuration and size of detonation tubes were investigated in the calculation. Two models of detonation tube exit temperature were utilized. Eight configuration choices for the PDC based on the calculation model were designed. Specific fuel consumption of a hybrid gas turbine engine was compared with that of the baseline engine at the condition of the same engine net thrust. The experimental research of a PDC interacted with a radial flow turbine of a turbocharger was conducted. The numerical results show that if the net thrust of hybrid PDC engine is matched to that of baseline engine, specific fuel consumption of hybrid PDC engine is 20–25% less than that of baseline engine. The total volume of the hybrid engine combustor is reduced. The incorporation of PDC into gas turbine engine can improve the performance of hybrid PDC engine, decrease the combustor weight, and increase the thrust-weight ratio. The experimental results show that the fully developed detonation waves are achieved in the experimental apparatus.

The stability of 595 operational points, belonging to 25 different experimental arrangements of the NASA stage 57, is studied by means of a theoretical calculation based on a theorem recently presented in the scientific literature. This large number of tests is used for checking the results of the theory for a wide variation of the operational and the design parameters. This study completes a previous one by adding the calculations for the stator. Both rotor and stator results are related with the stage stability. While only seven test points appear as potentially unstable due to the rotor, nine test points do due to the stator.