scholarly journals Evaluation of Potential Engine Concepts for a High Altitude Long Endurance Vehicle

1988 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward J. Kowalski
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
Propulsion System ◽  
Turbofan Engine ◽  
Counter Rotation ◽  
Long Endurance ◽  
Bypass Ratio

A potential need has been identified for a High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft to augment current surveillance and engagement capability. HALE platforms offer mission flexibility and survivability which can complement ground based surveillance and engagement systems. Current mission requirements include a loiter altitude of 45,000 to 60,000 feet and a loiter time of 12 to 24 hours. The HALE aircraft will also be required to carry a sensor payload weight between 50,000 and 100,000 pounds. This paper will evaluate the potential of several propulsion system candidates. Engines to be examined include the “classical” turbofan engine with bypass ratios up to eight, the “ultra high bypass ratio” turbofan with bypass ratios up to 20, General Electric’s Unducted Fan (UDF) and the turboprop in a pusher and tractor configuration with single and counter rotation propfans.

scholarly journals Propulsion System Evaluation for an Unmanned High Altitude Long Endurance RPV

1991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward J. Kowalski ◽  
Norman C. Baullinger ◽  
Jennifer Kolden
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
Propulsion System ◽  
Spark Ignition Engine ◽  
System Evaluation ◽  
Propulsion Systems ◽  
Atmospheric Sampling ◽  
Turboshaft Engine ◽  
Long Endurance ◽  
Rescue Drug ◽  
Selection Of

Unmanned High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) aircraft have been studied for several years. Reconnaissance, surveillance, search and rescue, drug interdiction, atmospheric sampling, etc. are a few of the potential missions for HALE aircraft. One of the pacing technology items for an aircraft of this type is the propulsion system. This paper will discuss three candidate propulsion systems: a turbocompounded spark ignition engine, a recuperative turboshaft engine and a turbocharged turbocompounded diesel-turbine. HALE mission requirements dictate that certain parameters influence the selection of the propulsion system: propulsion system weight per horsepower, brake specific fuel consumption (lb/hr/shp), and reliability.

scholarly journals Propulsion Requirements for High Altitude Long Endurance Flight

1991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger W. Gallington
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
Fuel Consumption ◽  
Propulsion System ◽  
Specific Power ◽  
Power Requirement ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Performance Requirements ◽  
And Control ◽  
Cooling Air ◽  
Long Endurance

This paper presents a set of general propulsion system performance requirements for high altitude long endurance flight. This flight objective places dramatically different values on fuel consumption, air consumption, system weight, and required heat rejection than the better understood range-payload objective. Some differences in overall vehicle design that suggest unusual propulsion systems are: (1) Optimum wing loadings for endurance at altitude are lower than acceptable for adequate wind penetration during descent and control during landing; (2) Compressing and cooling air at high altitudes requires large apparatus making specific air consumption very important; and (3) The lower specific power requirement and large fuel fractions make fuel consumption relatively more important than system weight. Based on the realistic expectations of aircraft aerodynamic performance and structural efficiency, the paper derives the correct propulsion system tradeoffs and extends these tradeoffs to include electrically-powered aircraft. A propulsion system designer can use the material presented here to guide the design of a high altitude long endurance propulsion system without active involvement of an airplane design team. The resulting propulsion design will be near-optimum.

scholarly journals Liquid Cooled Turbocharged Propulsion System for HALE Application

1991 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Wilkinson ◽  
R. B. Benway
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Spark Ignition ◽  
Propulsion System ◽  
Spark Ignition Engine ◽  
Reciprocating Engine ◽  
Power Turbine ◽  
Significant Performance ◽  
Technical Assessment ◽  
Long Endurance

An unmanned air vehicle (UAV) capable of sustained flight in the upper limits of the tropopause is a relatively new technology which has seen increasing interest during the past decade. Mission lengths for High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) applications are typically measured in days rather than hours with operating altitudes ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 feet. An Otto cycle propulsion system offers significant performance advantages over other cycles. This paper provides a technical assessment of a liquid cooled turbocharged, reciprocating engine concept capable of meeting the requirements for a HALE vehicle. A properly designed spark ignition engine with a two or three stage series turbocharger system utilizing state-of-the-art aerodynamic design can meet the challenges presented at these altitudes. Several records for long endurance and high altitude flight have already been set with this type of propulsion system. A comparison with other candidate engines will also be made. The ability to operate with low brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) across a broad operating range will be identified. With sufficiently high exhaust gas temperatures, the addition of a power turbine for turbocompounding can further reduce the BSFC and brake specific air consumption (BSAC). A version of the turbocharged spark ignition engine is capable of providing high thermal efficiency with the least BSAC and minimum turbomachinery weight.

A Comparative Study of Genetic Algorithms and Gradient Methods for RM12 Turbofan Engine Diagnostics and Performance Estimation

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomas Gro¨nstedt ◽  
Markus Wallin
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Performance Test ◽  
Gradient Methods ◽  
Performance Testing ◽  
Performance Estimation ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Turbofan Engine ◽  
Local Optima ◽  
Bypass Ratio

Recent work on gas turbine diagnostics based on optimisation techniques advocates two different approaches: 1) Stochastic optimisation, including Genetic Algorithm techniques, for its robustness when optimising objective functions with many local optima and 2) Gradient based methods mainly for their computational efficiency. For smooth and single optimum functions, gradient methods are known to provide superior numerical performance. This paper addresses the key issue for method selection, i.e. whether multiple local optima may occur when the optimisation approach is applied to real engine testing. Two performance test data sets for the RM12 low bypass ratio turbofan engine, powering the Swedish Fighter Gripen, have been analysed. One set of data was recorded during performance testing of a highly degraded engine. This engine has been subjected to Accelerated Mission Testing (AMT) cycles corresponding to more than 4000 hours of run time. The other data set was recorded for a development engine with less than 200 hours of operation. The search for multiple optima was performed starting from more than 100 extreme points. Not a single case of multi-modality was encountered, i.e. one unique solution for each of the two data sets was consistently obtained. The RM12 engine cycle is typical for a modern fighter engine, implying that the obtained results can be transferred to, at least, most low bypass ratio turbofan engines. The paper goes on to describe the numerical difficulties that had to be resolved to obtain efficient and robust performance by the gradient solvers. Ill conditioning and noise may, as illustrated on a model problem, introduce local optima without a correspondence in the gas turbine physics. Numerical methods exploiting the special problem structure represented by a non-linear least squares formulation is given special attention. Finally, a mixed norm allowing for both robustness and numerical efficiency is suggested.

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