On the Analysis of Energy Efficient Aircraft Engines

Abstract: Aero engine performance analysis is highly multidimensional using various measures of component performance such as turbomachinery and mechanical efficiencies, and pressure loss coefficients. Using conventional performance analysis, relying on only the laws of thermodynamics, it is possible to understand how the performance parameters affect the component performance, but it is difficult to directly compare the magnitude of various loss sources. A comprehensive framework has been detailed to analyze aero engine loss sources in one common currency. As the common currency yields a measure of the lost work potential in every component, it is used to relate the component performance to the system performance. The theory includes a more detailed layout of all the terms that apply to a propulsion unit than presented before. The framework is here adopted to real gases to be used in state of the art performance codes. Additionally, the framework is further developed to enable detailed studies of two radical intercooling concepts that either rejects the core heat in the outer nacelle surfaces or uses the core heat for powering of a secondary cycle. The theory is also extended upon by presenting the installed rational efficiency, a true measure of the propulsion subsystem performance, including the installation effects of the propulsion subsystem as it adds weight and drag that needs to be compensated for in the performance assessment.