NEWAC - NEW engine Architecture core Concepts

NEWAC (www.newac.eu) is an Integrated Project co-funded by the European Commission within the Sixth Framework Programme.

Global air traffic is forecast to grow at an average annual rate of around 5% in the next 20 years. This high level of growth makes the need to address the environmental penalties of air traffic all the more urgent. To reduce CO2 and NOX emissions new engine core configurations with heat management, active systems and advanced component technology are being developed under the EU integrated programme for NEWAC.

The Sussex part of the NEWAC project aims to help reduce High Pressure Compressor (HPC) clearance with a view towards future intercooled cycles. HPC clearance has a direct impact on both engine fuel consumption and operability. Reductions in steady state running clearance can be achieved through better matching of the thermal response of the HPC drum and casing. A concept has been demonstrated through a combination of axi-symmetric thermo-mechanical modelling of the complete HPC spool, and a CFD study of the interdisc cavities. I am currently instrumenting a fully-scaled engine-representative highspeed test facility for an experimental validation.