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Selected Papers from the 9th EVI-GTI International Gas Turbine Instrumentation Conference

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A special issue of International Journal of Turbomachinery, Propulsion and Power (ISSN 2504-186X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2020) | Viewed by 43144

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ralf Obertacke

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Guest Editor

Siemens Energy, 10553 Berlin, Germany
Interests: testing and validation; test rig and test facility planning; instrumentation and probes; data acquisition; exhaust emission measurements (CEMS)
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Pete Loftus

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Guest Editor

Evalu8ion Ltd., Derby DE3 0TN, UK
Interests: instrumentation; non-destructive testing; fundamentals of measurement
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Dr. Hanspeter Zinn

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General Electric GmbH, 5400 Baden, Switzerland
Interests: sensors; probes and instrumentation systems for harsh environments; signal processing; validation testing
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Dr. Michele Scervini

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Guest Editor

Univ of Cambridge
Interests: gas turbine instrumentations, thermocouples

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The European Virtual Institute for Gas Turbine Instrumentation (EVI-GTI) was founded in 2002 through the European Union’s Competitive and Sustainable Growth (GROWTH) program. Since 2005, the EVI-GTI has been a non-profit association. The Board, the membership, and the attendees represent basically all European turbomachinery OEMs, a broad variety of sensor and instrumentation vendors and many universities and research institutes.

EVI-GTI has, together with the Propulsion Instrumentation Working Group (PIWG) in the U.S., developed the Instrumentation Lap Gap Matrix (LGM), by analyzing the technology readiness of various technologies for sensors, probes, and instrumentation. The LGM shows which technologies are currently satisfactory, which are currently not available but can be worked around, and which are not available today and prevent further development of gas turbine engines (e.g., to higher efficiencies.)

The EVI-GTI International Gas Turbine Instrumentation Conference is an event that arose in 2004, in the first years as a yearly conference in Europe. From 2006 on, it was organized every two years. Every other year, there is a transatlantic Joint EVI-GTI / PIWG Conference which takes place alternately in the U.S. and in Europe.

The 9th EVI-GTI International Gas Turbine Instrumentation Conference was held in Graz/Austria on 20-21 November 2019. The conference was structured into five sessions that covered topics related to instrumentation and measurement in (hot) engine parts. The sessions were:

Test cell concepts and instrumentation
New sensors and innovative measurement technologies
Engine measurements for performance evaluation
Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning and controls
Non-contact optical sensors

Besides the presentations and the key notes, “elevator pitch” sessions were held where the participants could introduce their work.
About 20 technical presentations were given, either full papers or “presentation only” contributions. The best papers from the conference, corresponding to the IJTPP scope, are collected in this Special Issue.

EVI-GTI Website: https://evi-gti.eu EVI-GTI Wiki Site: https//wiki.evi-gti.eu

Dr. Ralf Obertacke
Dr. Pete Loftus
Dr. Hanspeter Zinn
Dr. Michele Scervini
Guest Editors

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Turbomachinery, Propulsion and Power is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

EVI-GTI
Gas turbine instrumentation
Sensors and instrumentation
Standards and specification
Test cells and test rigs
Engine measurement
Hot gas path
Wireless, energy harvesting
Gas turbine health monitoring and control

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 3923 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Review of a Custom-Designed Optical Sensing System for Aero-Engine Applications

by Rubén Fernández, Josu Amorebieta, Iker García, Gotzon Aldabaldetreku, Joseba Zubia and Gaizka Durana

Int. J. Turbomach. Propuls. Power 2021, 6(1), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijtpp6010003 - 25 Feb 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2980

Abstract

Fibre bundle-based reflective optical sensors are good candidates for parameter monitorisation in aero engines. Tip clearance is one of those parameters of great concern that is necessary to monitor. Within this optical technology, the evolution experienced by a custom-designed optical sensor is presented from its first configuration up to the fifth one. The performance of the last configuration is compared with those of other two optical sensors that are also based on a fibre bundle design. The comparison has been carried out in an experimental program in a transonic wind tunnel for aero engines. The proven high resolution and sensitivity of the last configuration of the optical sensor opens up the possibility to detect blade defects, cracks, etc. that could otherwise be hard to track. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 9th EVI-GTI International Gas Turbine Instrumentation Conference)

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23 pages, 6814 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fuzzy Controller Structures Investigation for Future Gas Turbine Aero-Engines

by Seyed Jalal Mohammadi Doulabi Fard and Soheil Jafari

Int. J. Turbomach. Propuls. Power 2021, 6(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijtpp6010002 - 22 Feb 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4223

Abstract

The Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE) Flight Path 2050 focuses on ambitious and severe targets for the next generation of air travel systems (e.g., 75% reduction in CO₂ emissions per passenger kilometer, a 90% reduction in NOx emissions, and 65% reduction in noise emission of flying aircraft relative to the capabilities of typical new aircraft in 2000). In order to meet these requirements, aircraft engines should work very close to their operating limits. Therefore, the importance of advanced control strategies to satisfy all engine control modes simultaneously while protecting them from malfunctions and physical damages is being more crucial these days. In the last three decades, fuzzy controllers (FCs) have been proposed as a high potential solution for performance improvement of the next generation of aircraft engines. Based on an analytic review, this paper divides the trend of FCs design into two main lines including pure FCs (PFC) and min–max FCs (MMFC). These two main architectures are then designed, implemented on hardware, and applied in a case study to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each structure. The analysis of hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation results shows that the pure FC structure would be a high potential candidate for maneuverability and response time indices improvement (e.g., military applications); while min–max FC architecture has a great potential for future civil aero-engines where the fuel consumption and steady-state responses are more important. The simulation results are also compared with those of industrial min–max controllers to confirm the feasibility and reliability of the fuzzy controllers for real-world application. The results of this paper propose a general roadmap for fuzzy controllers’ structure selection for new and next generation of aircraft engines. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 9th EVI-GTI International Gas Turbine Instrumentation Conference)

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16 pages, 6159 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Towards an Ultra-High-Speed Combustion Pyrometer

by Alberto Sposito, Dave Lowe and Gavin Sutton

Int. J. Turbomach. Propuls. Power 2020, 5(4), 31; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijtpp5040031 - 15 Dec 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3071

Abstract

Measuring reliably the correct temperature of a sooty flame in an internal combustion engine is important to optimise its efficiency; however, conventional contact thermometers, such as thermocouples, are not adequate in this context, due to drift, temperature limitation (≤2100 K) and slow response time (~10 ms). In this paper, we report on the progress towards the development of a novel ultra-high-speed combustion pyrometer, based on collection of thermal radiation via an optical fibre, traceably calibrated to the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90) over the temperature range T = (1073–2873) K, with residuals <1%, and capable of measuring at a sampling rate of 250 kHz. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 9th EVI-GTI International Gas Turbine Instrumentation Conference)

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6 pages, 2530 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

High-Temperature Profile Monitoring in Gas Turbine Exhaust-Gas Diffusors with Six-Point Fiber-Optic Sensor Array

by Franz J. Dutz, Sven Boje, Ulrich Orth, Alexander W. Koch and Johannes Roths

Int. J. Turbomach. Propuls. Power 2020, 5(4), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijtpp5040025 - 24 Sep 2020

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4503

Abstract

In this paper, the deployment of a newly developed, multipoint, fiber-optic temperature-sensor system for temperature distribution measurements in a 6 MW gas turbine is demonstrated. The optical sensor fiber was integrated in a stainless steel protection cable with a 1.6 mm outside diameter. It included six measurement points, distributed over a length of 110 mm. The sensor cable was mounted in a temperature probe and was positioned radially in the exhaust-gas diffusor of the turbine. With this temperature probe, the radial temperature profiles in the exhaust-gas diffusor were measured with high spatial and temporal resolution. During a test run of the turbine, characteristic temperature gradients were observed when the machine operated at different loads. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 9th EVI-GTI International Gas Turbine Instrumentation Conference)

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17 pages, 4278 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

TGSim Plus™—Real-Time Dynamic Simulation Suite of Gas Turbine Systems for the MATLAB^®/Simulink^® Environment

by Attilio Brighenti, Davide Duranti and Debora Quintabà

Int. J. Turbomach. Propuls. Power 2020, 5(3), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijtpp5030024 - 11 Sep 2020

Viewed by 4368

Abstract

Dynamic simulation of turbomachinery by Hardware in the Loop (HIL) real-time systems has become an essential practice, due to the high cost of real equipment testing and the need to verify the control and diagnostic systems’ reaction to emergency situations. The authors developed a full model of a power generation Gas Turbine Plant, including liquid and gaseous auxiliaries, and the electrical generator and starter motor, integrated in a MATLAB^®/Simulink^® simulation suite: TGSim Plus™. This allows assembling models of various gas turbine (GT) architectures by customised Simulink^® library blocks and simulating steady state and transient conditions, such as complete start-up and shutdown operations as well as emergency, contingent operations and artificially injected fault scenarios. The model solver runs real-time steps at milliseconds scale. The paper describes the main modelling characteristics and typical results of steady state and transient simulations of a heavy-duty gas turbine under development by Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction (Changwon, South Korea). Comparison with benchmark design simulations obtained by a reference non real-time software shows a good match between the two environments, duly taking into account some differences in the GT models setting affecting parts of the sequence. The paper discusses also the bleed streams warm-up influence on GT performance and the start-up states trajectories dependency on control logic and on the starter helper motor torque envelope. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 9th EVI-GTI International Gas Turbine Instrumentation Conference)

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10 pages, 3520 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thermal Performance Evaluation in Gas Turbine Aero Engines Accessory Gearbox

by Soheil Jafari, Ahmed Bouchareb and Theoklis Nikolaidis

Int. J. Turbomach. Propuls. Power 2020, 5(3), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijtpp5030021 - 26 Aug 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 5369

Abstract

This paper presents a methodological approach for mathematical modelling and physics-based analysis of accessory gearbox (AGB) thermal behavior in gas turbine aero engines. The AGB structure, as one of the main sources of heat in gas turbine aero engines, is firstly described and its power losses will be divided into load-dependent and no-load dependent parts. Different mechanisms of heat generation are then identified and formulated to develop a toolbox for calculation of the churning, sliding friction, and rolling friction losses between contact surfaces of the AGB. The developed tool is also capable of calculating the heat loss mechanisms in different elements of the AGB, such as gears, bearings, and seals. The generated model is used to simulate and analyze the AGB thermal performance in the different flight phases in a typical flight mission, where the obtained results are validated against publicly available data. The analysis of the results confirms the effectiveness of the proposed method to estimate the heat loss values in the AGBs of gas turbine aero engines and to predict the thermal loads of the AGB in different flight phases. The developed tool enables the gas turbine thermal management system designers to deal with the generated heats effectively and in an optimal way. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 9th EVI-GTI International Gas Turbine Instrumentation Conference)

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25 pages, 6741 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Combined Optic-Acoustic Monitoring of Combustion in a Gas Turbine

by Fabrice Giuliani, Lukas Andracher, Vanessa Moosbrugger, Nina Paulitsch and Andrea Hofer

Int. J. Turbomach. Propuls. Power 2020, 5(3), 15; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijtpp5030015 - 6 Jul 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 5386

Abstract

The need for better combustion monitoring in gas turbines has become more acute with the latest technical requirements, standards, and policies in terms of safety, environment, efficiency, operation flexibility, and operation costs. Combustion Bay One e.U. and FH JOANNEUM GmbH initiated in 2015 an experimental research program about the feasibility and first assessments of placing optical systems near the combustor. The project’s acronym “emootion” stands for “Engine health MOnitOring and refined combusTION control based on optical diagnostic techniques embedded in the combustor”. The motivation of the project is twofold. On one side, one wants to exploit the radiative feature of the flame and to transform it into a piece of reliable information about the combustion status. On the other side, this information can be useful in terms of data interpretation or data reconciliation with other information coming from other sensors such as temperature probes, fast pressure probes, or accelerometers. The focus is put on several aspects of combustor operations: on detection of the flame, on monitoring of the ignition process, on a quality assessment of combustion based on its spectral contents (including soot formation), and on the detection of possible combustion instabilities. Promising results were obtained using photodiodes that offer an adequate trade-off between narrow-band sensitivity and signal time response. It is shown that it is convenient to combine a fast-pressure sensor with an optical sensor in a compact form; this combination has led to the so-called Rayleigh Criterion Probe (RCP). The split in red, green, and blue (RGB) light components and their further analysis allows for mapping the different types of operation. Regarding the probe packaging aspect, it is discussed that the level of light collection needed to keep an acceptable signal-to-noise ratio has been so far a restraint for the use of optical fibres. Solutions are proposed to bring the optical sensor as close as possible to the optical interface and to make it operational and reliable in prevailing heat. This contribution closes with a description of the pressure tests in a new combustion facility built for this purpose. A compact and portable combustion monitoring system including at least 3 RCPs can become an instrumentation standard within the next decade. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 9th EVI-GTI International Gas Turbine Instrumentation Conference)

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19 pages, 14867 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Deformation in a Rotating RC Helicopter Blade

by Pedro J. Sousa, Francisco Barros, Paulo J. Tavares and Pedro M. G. P. Moreira

Int. J. Turbomach. Propuls. Power 2020, 5(3), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijtpp5030013 - 2 Jul 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3201

Abstract

Rotating structures are important and commonly used in the transportation and energy generation fields, where a better understanding of the deformations these structures endure is essential for both the design and maintenance phases. This work presents a novel image sensing methodology for measuring the displacements of rotating parts in operation due to dynamic loading. This methodology employs 3D digital image correlation combined with a custom stroboscopic lighting solution to achieve apparent stillness of the target while it rotates and then processes the acquired data to remove small imprecisions and align it to the rotor’s intrinsic coordinate system. It was applied to an RC helicopter, whose blade deformation was measured and compared with a computational model, using fluid–structure interaction between computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element analysis (FEA). Using live measurement techniques, it was possible to obtain the actual behaviour of the blades, which can be used to validate and tune computational models. The proposed methodology complements the methods available in the literature, which were centred around relative out-of-plane displacements, by enabling the comparison of absolute out-of-plane and in-plane ones. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 9th EVI-GTI International Gas Turbine Instrumentation Conference)

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11 pages, 2049 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Pulsation and Vibration Measurement on Stator Side for Turbocharger Turbine Blade Vibration Monitoring

by Takashi Ando

Int. J. Turbomach. Propuls. Power 2020, 5(2), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijtpp5020011 - 25 May 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3167

Abstract

Mechanically robust turbine design with respect to blade vibration is challenging when dealing with nozzle-ring fouling and wear. Especially for engines operating with heavy fuel oil (HFO), the nozzle rings of the turbocharger turbines are prone to severe degradation in terms of contamination with unburned fuel deposits. This contamination will lead to an increased excitation of blade resonances in comparison to the nominal design. Due to the statistical character of contamination, long-term monitoring of blade vibration amplitudes would be beneficial. In the harsh environment of HFO operation, however, conventional blade vibration measurement techniques, such as those using strain gauges or blade tip timing, cannot work reliably for a long period. Thus, the objective of this research is to develop a method that enables the monitoring of turbine blades using pulsation or vibration sensors installed on the stator side. Almost a dozen turbines, both radial and axial, have been examined in order to determine a proper measurement chain/position and analytical method. Even though the challenges specific to the turbocharger turbine application—that high-frequency (up to 50 kHz) acoustic radiation from turbine blades has to be detected by a sensor on the stator side—were demanding, in the course of the investigations several clear examples of turbine blades engine-order resonance detection were gathered. Finally, the proposed method has been tested successfully in a power plant for over one year. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 9th EVI-GTI International Gas Turbine Instrumentation Conference)

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31 pages, 10339 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Forcing Pulsations by Means of a Siren for Gas Turbine Applications

by Fabrice Giuliani, Markus Stütz, Nina Paulitsch and Lukas Andracher

Int. J. Turbomach. Propuls. Power 2020, 5(2), 9; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijtpp5020009 - 13 May 2020

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5397

Abstract

A siren is a robust fast-valve that generates effective flow pulsations and powerful noise levels under well-controlled conditions. It operates under the inlet flow conditions of a gas turbine combustor. Its principle is based on a sonic air jet periodically sheared by a cogged wheel rotating at a given speed. It is used as an alternative to loudspeakers in combustion laboratories when the use of these is made difficult by aggressive flow conditions, such as hot air under pressure, possibly containing impurities. It is also a serious candidate as an effective flow actuator to be deployed on power gas turbine fleets. The authors have gathered more than twenty years of knowledge on siren technology. This pulsator was originally developed for research on thermoacoustics. By scanning through a given frequency range, one detects the acoustic resonance of specific parts of the combustor assembly, or possibly triggers a combustion instability during a sensitivity analysis of a flame to small perturbations. In 2010, Giuliani et al. developed a novel siren model with the capacity to vary the amplitude of pulsation independently from the frequency. In this contribution, the physics, the metrics, and the resulting parameters of the pulsator are discussed. Technical solutions are unveiled about visiting large frequency ranges (currently 6 kHz) and achieving elevated pressure fluctuations (150 dB SPL proven, possibly up to 155 dB SPL) with a compact device. A multimodal excitation is available with this technology, one idea being to dissipate the acoustic energy on nearby peaks. The contribution ends with a summary of the applications performed so far and the perspective of an industrial application. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 9th EVI-GTI International Gas Turbine Instrumentation Conference)

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