Date of Award

Spring 2015

Access Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering

Department

Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair

Magdy Attia

First Committee Member

Scott Martin

Second Committee Member

Anastasios S. Lyrintzis

Abstract

Microturbines and small gas turbines are often an attractive option for turbo-hybrid application research in aviation due to their simple design and high power to weight ratio. However, the low operating pressure ratios of microturbines leads to low thermal efficiency, which results in very high fuel consumption. Higher operating pressure ratios in microturbines could vastly improve their current fuel efficiency. This thesis focuses on developing a compact, single stage 8:1 pressure ratio centrifugal compressor stage designed to meet the high-pressure ratio requirements of microturbines and small gas turbine engines in turbo hybrid-electric propulsion applications. The first stage vaned diffuser was modified to include a scalloped leading edge ridge to aid stage total-total compression efficiency improvement. A full 3D Navier-Strokes based CDF solver was used in estimating the delta increase in device total-total efficiency due to scalloped leading edge, from the baseline configuration. The solution obtained using CFD was also used to investigate the ameliorating effects of the scallop ridge.

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