Defining ecologic thermo-environmental index for aero-engines as a novel performance criterion

Yasin Şöhret

Süleyman Demirel University, School of Civil Aviation, Department of Airframe and Powerplant Maintenance, Isparta, Turkey

Abstract: Aviation fleet globally grows in consequence of rise in ridership, number, and hour of flight. That makes the aviation sector one of the major contributors to the global warming threat. For this reason, environmental and ecologic aspects should be considered at least as much as performance at design step of an aircraft engine, namely aero-engine. To evaluate thermodynamics, environmental and ecologic aspects of an aero-engine a holistic approach is lack of the existing literature. The current paper presents the ecologic thermo-environmental index, as a novel measure, for evaluation of an aero-engine performance from a joint perspective of thermodynamics, ecological and environmental aspects. For better understanding of the dependence of ecologic thermo-environmental index on design parameters of the aero-engine a parametric study is also included. The rise in pressure ratio has an increasing impact on the ecologic thermo-environmental index whereas increase in the turbine inlet temperature also leads an increasing impact on the ecologic thermo-environmental index. On the other hand, the ecologic thermo-environmental index is found to be inversely proportional to the exergy efficiency. At the end of the study, the exergy efficiency of the turbojet engine is calculated to be varying from 44.46% to 57.12%. Additionally, the value of the ecologic thermo-environmental index of the turbojet engine ranges between 0.02 and 0.15. The author considers the present study to be beneficial to those interested in aerospace, mechanical, and environmental engineering.

Keywords: Aircraft; Ecologic function; Exergy destruction; Gas turbine; Thermodynamics; Turbojet

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jppr.2021.11.001