STI-TP-1127-Advanced Turboshaft Engine/Drivetrain Modeling Technique for Real Time Rotorcraft Simulation

Simulation is an indispensable tool in the development and evolution of modern rotorcraft designs and flight training activities, with the gas turbine engine being a particularly demanding component to simulate. To provide for enhanced simulation fidelity regarding this critical component, the Army has identified a need for a generic turboshaft engine/drivetrain model. Such a model will be used to support real-time rotorcraft flight simulation activities that can be initiated early in the design cycle. To meet this need, Systems Technology, Inc. is pleased to propose GenEng, a physics-based model of generic architecture that can be readily integrated into industry standard simulations. When fully developed, GenEng will be a gas turbine engine model that is a careful blend of performance requirements, physics, and abstraction. GenEng will feature a virtual test stand through which the model can be executed as a stand alone application to ease checkout and parameter tuning functions. A beta version of GenEng will be created in Phase 1 and integrated into a real-time rotorcraft simulator to demonstrate feasibility of the approach via a limited piloted simulation of start up and low speed characteristics. An alpha version of the model currently exists as a proof of concept.