A feasibility study of a new ATREX engine system of aft-turbine configuration

Abstract

A feasibility of ATREX (Air-Turbo-Ram Expander cycle) engine with conventional aft-turbine configuration has been studied to be developed in about 10 years, if the development project has started under enough resources. The novel tip-turbine of the original ATREX engine is replaced by a conventional aft-turbine, and the maximum turbine inlet temperature (TTT) is reduced to 1200K, to realize the engine by only using approved metal technologies of modern jet engines. The capability of the performance has been shown by parametric studies by changing components' design parameters. The study shows that the performance of the ATREX engine is not less than that of pre-cooled turbo jet. Some technical issues on developing the new ATREX engine have been addressed. The most important issue would come from the transient total temperature change due to the rapid acceleration from sea level static (SLS) condition (288K) to Mach 6 at 30km of altitude (1680K) in 6 minutes. The deformation due to transient thermal expansion has to be controlled. Especially, the change of the tip clearance and the clearance between rotors and stators are pointed out to be important design issues. The ATREX engine, which has shorter axial length and simpler rotor, has structural advantage over turbo jet.