Implications of High-Pressure Turbine’s Erosion for a Military Turbofan’s Fuel Consumption

Abstract

Some in-service deterioration in any mechanical device, such as an aeroengine, is inevitable. As a result of experiencing deterioration (of the engine as a whole or any of its components individually), an engine will seek a different steady operating point, thereby resulting in a variation of the specific fuel consumption and/or fuel flow to provide the same thrust to keep the aircraft’s performance invariant. Any rise in specific fuel consumption and/or fuel flow and thereby the increased quantity of fuel required is of prime importance in military aviation. For a military aircraft’s mission profile, using computer simulations, the implications of high-pressure turbine’s erosion of a turbofan aeroengine upon the weight of the fuel that has to be carried and consumed are predicted. This will help in making wiser management decisions, such as whether to remove an aeroengine from the aircraft for maintenance or to continue using it with some changes in the aircraft’s mission profile). Hence, improved engine utilization can be achieved, resulting in lesser overall life-cycle costs.