A Gas Turbine Propulsion Plant With the Capability to Provide Steam for Both Injection and Aircraft Catapults

Abstract

Proposed in this paper is a novel propulsion system. On the basis of a gas turbine Brayton cycle a Rankine regenerative cycle was set up in parallel, which by utilizing the waste heat of the gas turbine exhaust gas is able to flexibly supply steam for gas turbine steam injection and for aircraft catapults. Thus brought forth is a gas turbine propulsion plant with a dual-purpose steam supply, which can well be suited for use on board an aircraft carrier. The propulsion plant under discussion has the inherent merits of a steam injected gas turbine cycle, but the additional new feature of steam supply for aircraft catapults significantly enhances the advantages of the propulsion plant as a whole. With a medium-sized aircraft carrier being selected as an example a comprehensive comparison has been conducted of four types of propulsion power plants, including a gas turbine propulsion plant with the capability to supply steam for both gas turbine steam injection and aircraft catapults.