Low-pressure system adjustment based on aircraft cruise thrust

Resumo

© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering.The Turbofan engine represents the type of propulsive technology mostly used in commercial aircrafts, and until that the new disruptive technologies take place, researches to optimize this propulsive system shall be continued to reduce the environmental impacts. The aim of this paper is to propose a methodology for the low-pressure system preliminary design (fan/low-pressure turbine), based on aircraft cruise thrust adjustment from commercial off-the-shelf turbofan engine, focusing on reducing specific fuel consumption for the individual aircraft mission. This work is carried out according to the following steps: (i) model development with calculation methodology for velocity diagram flow angles applied to the low-pressure system; (ii) estimation of baseline low-pressure system design parameters from limited engine data (an integrated engine aircraft model developed in the Gasturb and MATLAB commercial softwares are applied); (iii) evaluation of the strategies to increase the low-pressure system component efficiencies and their implementation by computer simulation; (iv) reapplication of the calculation methodology for estimation of the velocity diagram flow angles considering the adjusted low-pressure system components; and (v) analysis of the adjustment proposal results considering the matching between the lowest specific fuel consumption and the net thrust required for the cruise flight phase of the aircraft. As a final result, it demonstrates that the proposed strategies are promising for the adjustment of the low-pressure system in the preliminary design scope, and this approach may be considered feasibility from the standpoint of the engine manufacturer implementation, since the engine core and its external sizing do not affected.

Palavras-chave