Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Combustion and Emissions Characteristics in a Drone Jet Engine Fueled with Jet-A

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-19-2023

Publication Title

AIAA SCITECH 2023 Forum

DOI

10.2514/6.2023-1065

Abstract

With an increasing global warming effect, there is an increasingly focused effort to quantify the combustion and emissions phenomena occurring in turbine engines used in the aerospace industry. This study seeks to investigate the viability of a model using experimentally determined thermochemical and NASA polynomials developed for conventional and alternative fuels. These material properties were used to accurately depict the temperature, pressure, emissions and flow characteristics in a CFX simulation of a small-scale drone engine. This numerical data was compared to physical experiments to validate the numerical model. The experimental trials were conducted using a turbojet with multiple integrated sensors to measure temperature, pressure, fuel flow rate, engine speed, and thrust in real-time using high data acquisition unit at engine speeds between 60,000 and 70,000 rpms. The emission results were collected using an MKS Multigas Emissions for carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), water vapor (H₂O), and nitrogen oxides (NOₓ). The results found the numerical simulation within 10% of the experimental temperature in the upstream temperature probe location (compressor exit and turbine inlet) while resulting in high percentage error in the turbine exit and exhaust nozzle sections. The turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) was seen to be maximum around the areas of impeded flow, included the turbine stage and alongside the exhaust nozzle struts. The emissions of the combustion were found for carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), water vapor (H₂O), and nitrogen oxides (NOₓ), and showed that for a 16.67% increase in engine speed, there was emissions increase of 20.84%, 2.03%, 0.75%, and 26.52% respectively.

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Copyright © 2023 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved.

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