Parametric analysis of inter-cooled and recuperated aero engine

The fuel consumption and pollution reduction are certainly two of the most important characteristics of new commercial aviation aero engines. Regeneration and intercooling are two techniques widely used in gas turbine engines in ground placed power plants, that allow to reduce fuel consumption and increase output power. To see if these advantages can be transferred to a propulsion system and how great they could be, it has been developed a thermodynamic numerical code able to simulate the behavior of an aircraft gas turbine engine in which the two practices are introduced. The code studies the influence of intercooling and regeneration on a turbofan engine performances, computing the thermal cycle and hence obtaining the main engine parameters, as specific thrust, thermal efficiency, propulsion efficiency, overall efficiency and specific fuel consumption. On the basis of the simulation results, a comparison with a conventional turbofan engine at cruise conditions has been performed, and the main limits related to the introduction of these techniques on an aircraft engine discussed. Copyright © 2012 by Roberto Andriani. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., with permission.