GAS TURBINE LABORATORY SEMINAR
DATE: Thursday, 17 November 2022
TIME: 4:00pm
LOCATION: 33-116
SPEAKER: Durgesh Chandel, RET Engineer, Intel
TOPIC: Enabling Sustainable Civil Aviation with High-efficiency Propulsion Systems
ABSTRACT:
Aerospace vehicles generate up to 2.5% of net global emissions, with short- to mid-range aircraft contributing about 65% of it (ICCT 2020). Decarbonizing this sector is key to reduce overall emissions and meet NASA’s net-zero emission goals by 2050. Under the CHEETA (Center for High-Efficiency Electrical Technologies for Aircraft) program, supported by NASA, we are developing design and technology for a next-generation transport aircraft powered by cryogenic hydrogen fuel-cells, in order to eventually, replace the conventional gas-turbine powered narrow-body fleet. Starting from a clean sheet design, CHEETA efforts are focused on enabling hydrogen-powered technology and systems for civil aircraft, minimizing net electric power requirements, and maximizing safety and performance at system- and component-level. In this talk, I will discuss the conceptual design of high-efficiency propulsion systems for enabling sustainable civil aviation. I utilize the boundary layer ingestion (BLI) on a distributed electric propulsors (DEP) architecture to maximize the propulsion system performance. A system-level approach is used to co-design these strongly coupled electric and aeropropulsive sub-systems. An extensive trade space exploration optimizes for a highly distributed 32-propulsors design, with 16% power savings relative to a no-BLI twin-engine electric aircraft (i.e., baseline). Further considerations of technological readiness level (TRL) and ease of manufacturing and operation for various components suggest a 9-propulsors (fuselage and over-the-wing mounted propulsors) configuration being optimal for the CHEETA mission. This design also shows about 14% net power savings due to BLI + DEP, indicating the significance of these concepts for enabling hydrogen-powered flight in civil aviation.
BIO:
Durgesh is a RET (resolution enhancement technology) engineer at Intel Corporation, and a former postdoc from MIT Gas turbine lab. She is a CFD and Systems engineering expert with demonstrated skills in electrified aircraft design, thermal systems, turbomachinery, combustion, hypersonics & nonequilibrium flows with 5+ yrs work experience at GE, NASA & MIT. She is a member of AIAA Thermophysics Technical Committee and AIAA Diversity Working Group (DWG). She also served in the AIAA working group to support FAA 2023 reauthorization for aviation and commercial space.
Durgesh is the President and Professional development chair at MIT RPA^3 (Researchers and Postdocs Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics), and Founder of the non-profit "WeLEAP Aerospace" promoting STEM diversity and talent retention. She completed her PhD from University of Minnesota and was named as one of the Women in Aerospace 2019. Her bachelors and masters degree are from Indian institute of technology (IIT) Kanpur, and she is a Ludwig-Prandtl Fellow at Max Planck Institute at Goettingen, Germany.