Clean-Sheet Supersonic Engine Design and Performance
Laurens Voet, Prashanth Prakash
Advisors: Dr. Choon Tan, Prof. Steven Barrett, Dr. Jayant Sabnis, Dr. Raymond Speth
A number of new civil supersonic aircraft designs are currently being pursued by industry in different flight Mach number regimes and for different size classes (e.g. supersonic business jets at low-supersonic Mach numbers and airliners at high-supersonic Mach numbers). Currently, the design philosophy for the propulsion systems of these supersonic transport aircraft is to design them around existing engines and/or cores (i.e. derivative engine). This involves reusing the high-pressure core compressor, combustor and high-pressure turbine from existing engines and modifying the low-pressure spool (fan, low pressure turbine). In other words, no clean-sheet engine development programs are pursued. This raises the following question: ‘How much better could a clean-sheet engine design be compared to a derivative engine considering its environmental footprint?’
This project aims to evaluate the design space of clean-sheet engines designed specifically for use on civil supersonic aircraft, and to determine the resulting environmental footprint of such engines. Unlike previous commercial supersonic engines, which were adapted from military aircraft cores, or planned propulsions systems derived from current commercial engines, a clean-sheet engine takes advantage of recent advances in propulsion system technology to significantly improve performance and reduce emissions and noise footprints. This project will quantify these benefits for a range of engine designs relevant to currently proposed civil supersonic aircraft.
Specific goals of this research include:
· Development of a framework for quantifying the noise and emissions footprints of propulsion systems employed on civil supersonic aircraft.
· Assessment of the difference in environmental footprint between a derivative engine and a clean sheet engine for a civil supersonic aircraft.
· Development of a roadmap for technology development focusing on reducing the environmental footprint associated with engines for civil supersonic aircraft.
The project ‘Clean-sheet supersonic engine design and performance’ is part of the ASCENT (Aviation Sustainability Center) projects (https://ascent.aero).
