CFD Design Tool for Fuel Injectors in Turbine Engines

The objectives of the proposed effort are to demonstrate the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as a design tool for reducing engine development time and cost, to reduce fuel nozzle-combustor test requirements, and to demonstrate the capability of CFD to accelerate the incorporation of promising, actively controlled fuel nozzles and combustors into aircraft engines. These overall objectives will be met during the SBIR Phase I and Phase II Programs. In the Phase I proposal, we describe a closely coupled, parallel analytical and experimental effort designed to identify all the necessary capabilities for the fuel nozzle-combustor CFD design tool for aerodynamics, sprays, combustion in steady- and unsteady-state modes of operation, at realistic engine conditions. To meet these challenges, an experienced team of design engineers, university combustion researchers, and CFD experts will perform the Program. Flow Parametrics, LLC will lead the CFD design tool effort, while Georgia Tech School of Engineering will lead an experimental program in active control of combustion. The Program brings together CFD practitioners and the leading university aerospace combustion laboratory, for validating the design tool and enabling the development of the next generation of actively controlled fuel nozzles and combustors.