TECHNO-ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF CONCEPTUAL INTERCOOLED AERO ENGINE DESIGN FOR LONG RANGE APPLICATION

摘要

The environmental impact of human activities relating to the emission of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere is a serious concern. It is imperative that major targeted investments are turned into economical, reliable and environmentally friendly power and propulsion solutions. A large variety of promising concepts are being proposed to reduce carbon dioxide and other emissions, although the best candidate to pursue for investment is difficult to select. In the present work, a conceptual intercooled core aero engine design was assessed with component technologies consistent with 2020 entry into service via a multi-disciplinary optimisation approach. Such an approach is necessary in order to assess the trade-off between asset life, operating costs and technical specification. This paper examines the influence of fuel consumption, engine weight and direct operating costs with respect to extending the engine life. The principal modes of failure such as creep, fatigue and oxidation, are considered in the engine life estimation. Multi-disciplinary optimisation, comprising the main engine design parameters, was carried out with maximum time between overhaul as the objective function. The trade-off between minimum block fuel burn and maximum engine life was examined; the results were compared against the initial engine design and an assessment was made to identify the design changes required for obtaining an improved engine design in terms of direct operating costs. The results obtained from the study demonstrate that an engine optimised for maximum time between overhaul requires a lower overall pressure ratio and specific thrust but this comes at the cost of lower thermal efficiency and higher engine production costs.