University of German Armed Forces, Munich
The Institute of Jet Propulsion (Institute für Strahlantriebe: ISA) belongs to the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering and was headed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Leonhard Fottner till 2002. Since March 2006 the institute is headed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Reinhard Niehuis. Currently, at the institute there are working a secretary, 8 full-time research assistants, and 4 persons technical staff on turbo-machinery and aeroengine related projects. On the field of education the ISA covers the topics of turbo-machinery, jet propulsion, and aeroengine design and operation in its lectures. It also offers an experimental course to the students. The ISA operates an engine ground test bed for jet engines of up to 30kN of trust, a compressor test facility with a 5-stage high-speed axial compressor, a closed loop wind tunnel and a high-speed cascade wind tunnel, which offers the possibility to vary the Mach- and Reynolds number independently. A computation group applies state-of-the-art CFD-codes to current problems of periodic unsteady flows and cooling in turbo-machines. There is also a well equipped workshop included in the institute. The ISA is well established and participates in research programmes with the German government and industrial partners. Scientific results are regularly published at international and national conferences, in journals, Ph.D. thesis and internal reports.
Role of Institute of Jet Propulsion
As one of the most important goals of the project, it is expected to gain substantial experience on the influence of separated flow regions on heat transfer for modern highly loaded film cooled HP-turbine blades under realistic engine turbine conditions. This will be achieved in an interdisciplinary approach by extensive wind tunnel tests applying advanced measurement techniques for detailed heat transfer measurements for steady and periodic unsteady (rotor/stator interaction) inflow conditions. It is challenging that the main project goal can only be achieved in an interdisciplinary approach, where every partner brings in their unique experience. The results will be open to the partners (e.g. as data basis for in-house CFD-code validation) and will also be published at international conferences, journals, Ph.D. and other thesis as well as in internal reports. Some more general views on the phenomena related to turbine blade heat transfer problems are suited for becoming part of the lecturing material.The experimental investigations will be performed at the high-speed cascade wind tunnel of the institute (HGK) on a highly loaded HP-turbine cascade, instrumented with liquid crystal technique for heat transfer measurements in the separated region on the pressure and on the suction surface. By variation of Reynolds number, Mach number with steady and periodic unsteady inflow conditions detailed in formations on heat transfer parameters will be available.
The HGK is well suited to these kinds of investigations on highly loaded turbine cascades. There is a high level of expertise in safe operation of cascades in aerodynamically stable and unstable conditions. Test runs are always carefully prepared and organized to reduce potential harming of test facility to a minimum. It the case of a failing of the instrumentation spare sensors will be available. Furthermore there either already exist spare parts of the data acquisition or they can easily be purchased since they are off-the-shelf products. The University of the German Armed Forces Munich (Universität der Bundeswehr München: UniBwM) is located in the southeast of Munich just off the city limits. It comprises 7 faculties with more than 2800 students in total, 180 professors and about 500 persons academic staff.