A New Methodology for Advanced Gas Turbine Engine Simulation

Gas turbine engine simulation in terms of transient, steady state performance and operational characteristics is complex work at the various engineering functions of aero engine manufacturers. Especially, efficiency of control system design and development in terms of cost, development period and technical relevance implies controlling diverse simulation and identification activities. The previous engine simulation has been accomplished within a limited analysis area such as fan, compressor, combustor, turbine, controller, etc. and this has resulted in improper engine performance and control characteristics because of limited interaction between analysis areas. In this paper, we propose a new simulation methodology for gas turbine engine performance analysis as well as its digital controller to solve difficulties as mentioned above. The novel method has particularities of (ⅰ) resulting in the integrated control simulation using almost every component/module analysis, (ⅱ) providing automated math model generation process of engine itself, various engine subsystems and control compensators/regulators, (ⅲ) presenting total sophisticated output results and easy understandable graphic display for a final user. We call this simulation system GT3GS (Gas Turbine 3D Graphic Simulator). GT3GS was built on both software and hardware technology for total simulation capable of high calculation flexibility as well as interface with real engine controller. All components in the simulator were implemented using COTS (Commercial Off the Shelf) modules. In addition, described here includes GT3GS main features and future works for better gas turbine engine simulation.