The ACONIT project: an innovative design approach of active flow control for surge prevention in gas turbines

Abstract

The objective of the ACONIT project is to design, manufacture and test actuators for flow control for an implantation in an aircraft engine. The actuators will fulfil aeronautics requirement in order to increase the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) in this domain. In particular, for the present proposal, one plans to focus on the extension of the stable operating range of axial compressor, allowing thus a reduction of the surge margin through postponing the stall onset. To do so, the first objective of the work is to improve the knowledge of the flow physics of an efficient flow control system by joint numerical and experimental analyses performed in a low speed, single stage axial compressor. The results of this analysis will be used to derive the fluidic specifications for high-TRL actuators and control systems. These specifications will be the base for the design and manufacturing of amplified piezo-electric actuator prototypes whose fluidic performance and operational performance in an environment with vibration and controlled level of temperature will be precisely evaluated before manufacturing final actuators that will be integrated in a full-scale engine test facility. Their performance will be evaluated in terms of Surge Margin Improvement (SMI) as well as in terms of energy balance between the induced consumption and the machine performance improvements. The consortium grouped for carrying out this project is composed of a SME (CTEC), two academic institutions (Bundeswehr University Munich and ENSAM) and a Research Centre (ONERA). It groups skills ranging from internal flow analysis in turbomachinery, to flow control or actuators design, manufacturing and characterisations.