Thermodynamic Optimization and Energy-Exergy Analyses of the Turboshaft Helicopter Engine

Abstract

Energy demand is a critical contemporary concern, with significant implications for the future. While exploring renewable or sustainable energy sources offers potential solutions, optimizing energy consumption in existing power generation systems is also key. Aviation accounts for a substantial portion of energy demand, underscoring the importance of energy efficiency in this sector. Conventional energy analyses may be misleading; hence, employing exergy-based analyses provides a clearer understanding of energy consumption. Also, most of these analyses do not include the effect of the turbine blade’s cooling in calculations. In the present study, exergy analyses have been conducted on a helicopter turboshaft engine with turbine-blades cooling, focusing on design parameters such as ambient temperature, compressor pressure ratio, and turbine inlet temperature. Thermodynamic optimizations are conducted using a genetic algorithm. Results show that increasing pressure ratio and turbine inlet temperature boost performance, yet technical restrictions on compressor and turbine size, and metallurgical constraints on turbine blades’ material limit these gains. Sea level scenario prioritizes ambient temperature-drop for enhancing net-work and efficiency, while altitude-gain boosts turboshaft performance. Combustion chambers incur the highest exergy destruction of 74-80%, followed by 16-20% and 4-6% exergy destructions in the turbine and compressor, respectively. Lower air temperatures and higher flight altitudes demand larger fuel consumption for equivalent turbine inlet temperature, albeit enhancing cooling capacity and reducing required cooling air fraction for turbine blades.