CCEE Researchers Develop Advanced Material Models for Improving Jet Engines

Operation of gas turbine engines exposes engine components, such as combustor liners, to temperatures of over 1600F. Despite the use of high temperature resistant superalloys for manufacturing these liners, repetitive high temperature exposure can reduce liner life from the expected 10,000 hours to as low as 2,000 hours. Improved performance of these engines can be achieved through design optimization facilitated by numerical analysis using advanced material models. PhD students Raasheduddin Ahmed and Paul Barrett (BSCE, 2009), under the supervision of Prof. Tasnim Hassan, have developed an advanced material model through a project sponsored by Honeywell Aerospace, Phoenix, Arizona. The material model developed by these researchers will enable Honeywell to predict engine performance more accurately and thereby make informed design choices to improve the overall performance of gas turbine engines.

Jet engine gas turbine (Courtesy of Honeywell Aerospace)

Close up of a gas turbine combustor liner with a premature crack