SAMULET Project 1 - High Efficiency Turbomachinery

The project aims to reduce the environmental impact of gas turbines by improving their efficiency. It also aims to reduce their lifecycle cost. Air transport demand is predicted to double in the next 10 - 15 years and triple in 20 years time. In order to enable sustained growth, whilst limiting the environmental impact of air transport in the future, the Advisory Council for Aeronautical Research in Europe (ACARE) has set challenging targets for emission levels from gas turbines. Improvements in efficiency and increased operating temperature capability are required to address these issues. The reduction in fuel burn anticipated from the project can be converted to a reduction of 836 tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted per aircraft per year. To achieve this large reduction a multifaceted approach is necessary. Hence, the project is split into a number of work packages (WP) covering cooling, aerodynamics, aeromechanical interaction and materials. The latter facilitates a wider design space for the former packages and hence all packages are interlinked. The project forms part of the larger SAMULET programme. The cross-disciplinary approach being taken, in this programme, is expected to deliver greater technical capability when compared to previous more narrowly defined research.