Numerical calculation of energy and exergy flows of a turboshaft engine for power generation and helicopter applications

Abstract

Fuel efficiency of aircraft and helicopter becomes greater concern in recent years caused by rising fuel costs and as well as environmental impact of aviation emissions. Modern helicopters, however, highly complex systems with especially turboshaft engines that produce energy and power. So it is important to gain deeper understanding energy and exergy use throughout turboshaft engine and its components. Concurrently, in this study, energy and exergy-based computational approach applied to a turboshaft engine and its components. Exergy efficiency of the axial, centrifugal compressors and power turbine is found to be between 83.8% and 88.6%, while for the combustor, the corresponding value is to be 80.60%. For the components, the greatest exergy efficiency is calculated to be 91.4% at the gas generator turbine unit. As a result of the study, the exergetic efficiency of the turboshaft has been calculated as 27.5% with 1500 kW product exergy. It is expected that numerical formulation based on energy and exergy is beneficial for assessing turboshaft performance for future rotorcraft development