Gaussian Process Model-Based Performance Uncertainty Quantification of a Typical Turboshaft Engine

Abstract

The gas turbine engine is a widely used thermodynamic system for aircraft. The demand for quantifying the uncertainty of engine performance is increasing due to the expectation of reliable engine performance design. In this paper, a fast, accurate, and robust uncertainty quantification method is proposed to investigate the impact of component performance uncertainty on the performance of a classical turboshaft engine. The Gaussian process model is firstly utilized to accurately approximate the relationships between inputs and outputs of the engine performance simulation model. Latin hypercube sampling is subsequently employed to perform uncertainty analysis of the engine performance. The accuracy, robustness, and convergence rate of the proposed method are validated by comparing with the Monte Carlo sampling method. Two main scenarios are investigated, where uncertain parameters are considered to be mutually independent and partially correlated, respectively. Finally, the variance-based sensitivity analysis is used to determine the main contributors to the engine performance uncertainty. Both approximation and sampling errors are explained in the uncertainty quantification to give more accurate results. The final results yield new insights about the engine performance uncertainty and the important component performance parameters.