Invited Speaker Abstracts

PLENARY LECTURES

Prof. Harald Funke (Aachen University of Applied Sciences)

The lecture will provide an overview of the past and present of low-emission combustor research with hydrogen-rich fuels at Aachen University of Applied Sciences since year 1990. Using jet-in-crossflow mixing of multiple miniaturized fuel jets and combustor air, the Micromix technology reduces NOx emissions combined with inherent safety against flashback. Based on intensive experimental lab-scale studies, Micromix prototype combustors were developed for the use in an aviation auxiliary power unit. Micromix combustors demonstrated low NOx characteristics during gas turbine operation with hydrogen and hydrogen-rich syngas, accompanied by successful definition of safety laws and control system modifications. Intensive industrial development showed that the combustion principle is a proven technology for industrial gas turbines. Therefore, it also offers high potential for the use in aviation gas turbines using hydrogen as an alternative fuel

Prof. Toshinori Watanabe (The University of Tokyo)

Towards the global environmental goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, the research and development activities are vigorously carried out all over the world. In Japan, the heavyindustries have been executing cutting-edge technology development of hydrogen gasturbines, ammonium gas turbines, and related technologies for realizing green gasturbine systems. The development of fast start-up and flexible gas turbine technologieshave also been performed as a government project for introducing huge amount ofrenewable energy in the near future. In the field of aircraft propulsion, the industries, universities and JAXA are actively progressing cooperative research of aero-propulsion electrification. The hydrogen propulsion and the hybrid propulsion are also current enthusiastic targets of research activity. The fundamental knowledge of academia is thought critically essential for the topics concerning hydrogen utility. Recently, the Japanese government started powerful support for green technology activities in the frameworks of Green Innovation Program and Green Transformation Initiative. In the lecture, the current R&D activities in Japan toward green energy era are introduced from the academic point of view. The historically significant developments of domestic gas turbines are briefly reviewed as well. It is hoped to establish a global cooperation which is extremely important for all these activities.
.

Mr. Krishnakumar PG (GE Gas Power)

TBA

Dr. Mark Hardy (Rolls-Royce)

There is increasing pressure on the aviation industry to prioritise investment in green technologies that firstly produce reductions in CO 2 emissions, and secondly, reduce noise [1]. Modern gas turbines, notably high bypass ratio turbofan aircraft engines are continuously evolving to provide improved efficiencies for reducing fuel consumption and consequently, CO 2 emissions [2, 3]. This presentation will focus on new advanced material and manufacturing technologies that enable efficiency improvements across a wide range of components for current and future large civil engines. One critical aspect is the use of high temperature materials and coatings for improvements in thermal efficiency. However, higher temperature operation, particularly for fast climb cycles can have adverse effects of component durability. The balance between efficiency and durability will be discussed with reference to intelligent cooling systems, robust component design and a full understanding of material behaviour. Other efficiency improvements will be highlighted such as those gained from advanced component manufacture, improved factory efficiency and a greater emphasis on sustainability through reduced material usage, improved material manufacturing yields, waste elimination, material recycling and component repair. Finally, a view of future green technologies for powering aviation will be shown.

[References]

  1. https://www.nats.aero/news/aviation-index-2020/
  2. European Aeronautics: A Vision for 2020, European Commission, 2001.
  3. Flightpath 2050 Europe’s vision for aviation, European Commission, 2011. doi:10.2777/50266

KEYNOTE LECTURES

Prof. Damian Vogt (University of Stuttgart)

TBA

Prof. Richard Sandberg (The University of Melbourne)

CFD predictions are becoming increasingly important in the design of turbomachinery components because correlation-based methods are unable to further improve efficiency and laboratory experiments with the required fidelity are prohibitively expensive. First-principles based simulations are most accurate and have the potential to elucidate mechanisms that can be exploited for further efficiency gains. Their excessive computational cost, however, preclude their use in a design context and therefore modelling is required. Unfortunately, the inaccuracies introduced by RANS- or URANS-based CFD modelling approaches can limit the impact CFD can have on technology development. This presentation will present state-of-the-art high-fidelity simulations of blades and stages, including cases with fully resolved realistic roughness, and show how physical insight relevant to designers has been extracted. The talk will also introduce some of the inherent turbulence modelling errors and how those can be addressed with a novel machine-learning approach that can use both high-fidelity or sparse experimental data. It will be shown that closure models developed using the gene-expression programming approach, which are interpretable and easily implementable into CFD solvers, outperform traditional models both for the cases they were trained on and for cases not seen before.

Dr. Kyoko Kawagishi (National Institute for Materials Science)

In order to improve the efficiency of gas turbine engines, increase of turbine inlet temperature is most effective. Ni-base superalloys are applied to the high-pressure turbine blades and discs because of their excellent characteristics in high temperature mechanical properties and environmental properties, and increase of the temperature capability of superalloys is still necessary. National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) has been developing world-leading Ni-base superalloys for the turbine blades and discs. In this presentation, the development of advanced single-crystal superalloys with the world’s highest temperature capability and low-cost corrosion-resistant superalloys using “Alloy Design Program” are reported. Several trials for practical application of these alloys, such as research on “direct complete recycling” technology are also introduced.

Prof. Agustin Valera-Medina (Cardiff University)

A hydrogen economy has been the focus of researchers and developers over decades. However, the complexity of moving and storing hydrogen has always been a major obstacle to deploy the concept. Therefore, other materials can be employed to improve handling whilst reducing cost over long distances and long storage periods. Ammonia, a molecule with high hydrogen content, can be used to store and distribute hydrogen easily, as the molecule has been employed for more than 150 years for fertilizing purposes. Being a carbon-free chemical, ammonia (NH3) has the potential to support a hydrogen transition thus decarbonising transport, power and industries. Further, using ammonia directly can reduce costs and cycle inefficiencies. However, the complexity of using ammonia for power generation relays on the appropriate use of the chemical to reach high power outputs combined with low emission profiles. Gas turbines are currently under scrutiny for the direct use of ammonia as a fuel. Expertise on the subject is increasing and several micro Gas Turbines and small size units (~2MW) are being tested to progress in the utilization of the chemical in an efficient, stable and low polluting manner. However, progress comes with several challenges. Therefore, this session presents some global research that has taken place to understand the features of ammonia blends for powering gas turbine systems whilst addressing challenges at various power scales for units that will support the transition to carbon-free fueling in the power sector.

Dr. Dale Van Zante (NASA)

The Sustainable Flight National Partnership (SFNP) was launched in the President’s 2022 budget and is intended to accelerate the maturation of the most promising yet high risk aircraft and engine technologies in the 2020s to enable 2030s in-service impact with significant reduction in fuel consumption and emissions up to 30% lower than the highest performing aircraft in service as of December 2021 and contribute to meeting the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 as articulated in the 2021 U.S. Aviation Climate Action Plan. The Advanced Air Transport Technology Project (AATT) is part of the NASA research portfolio that supports SFNP goals. AATT conducts research to identify and mature promising technologies that will enable cleaner, quieter subsonic transport airplanes to meet national and international sustainable aviation goals including lower environmental impact, increased efficiency, and reduced noise around community airports. The primary AATT research themes that support SFNP are Electrified Aircraft Propulsion (EAP), Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) and Advanced Propulsors. An overview of progress towards the SFNP goals will be presented.