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AFRL/DOE RDE Collaboration

A d a m H o l l e y

N E T L U n i v e r s i t y T u r b i n e S y s t e m s R e s e a r c h P r o g r a m W o r k s h o p

O c t o b e r 3 0 t h 2 0 1 8

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AFRL RDE Research Interests

• Interests span from fundamental to applied research

• Analytical and experimental determination of RDE wave structure

• Quantifying and expanding operational maps• Inlet conditions (pressures, temperatures, velocities)• Equivalence ratios• Reactants (including liquid fuel/air)

• Performance quantification and improvement• Reduced inlet pressure losses• Combustion efficiency improvements

• Thermal management• Quantifying thermal loads• High temperature material assessments

• RDE integration assessments

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AFRL/DOE RDE Turbine Interaction Study

• Goal: assess impact of RDE exhaust on turbine performance

"T63 Turbine Response to Rotating Detonation Combustor Exhaust Flow" Andrew Naples, Ryan Battelle, John Hoke, Fred Schauer, Turbo Expo 2018 Proceedings, GT2018-75534

• T63 engine used as a test bed• Low OPR machine• Stock turbine used• H2/Air RDE used

• Operated in an open loop configuration

• Reduces RDE performance requirements

• Necessitates the testing of multiple configurations

• Performance compared by matching station 4 conditions

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T63 RDE• Multi-stream RDE developed to match the operational map of

the T63 gas turbine

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Added Instrumentation and Example Operation

• Light-off for the engine is at 50% RPM

• Max rated sustained power is 90% RPM

HPT In

HPT Out

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RDE-Turbine Interaction Results

• No measurable impact of the RDE unsteadiness on turbine efficiency

• RDC pressure fluctuation (30-45%) 10x that of conventional combustor(5%)

• RDC unsteadiness attenuated 65-85% in HPT

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RDE Gas Turbine Integration Next Steps

• Leverage previous learning to fully integrate a RDE into a T63 gas turbine

• RDE challenge• System scale still

necessitates H2/Air RDE• Needs to be low loss• Wide operational map

• Compressor/HPT balance• May require active

bleeds to maintain balance

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Discussion

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Backup

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RDE Operational Map Challenge• T63 baseline combustor pressure drop is low

• T63 operational map is low OPR, equivalence ratio, and air flows

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