AN AERO ENGINE DISK SIZING AND WEIGHT ESTIMATION APPROACH WITH IMPROVED TEMPERATURE PROFILES

During the predesign phase of an aero engine, interdisciplinary parametricstudiesare crucialfor identifying anoptimumengine.Asinnovativeengineconceptsemerge,itis essentialtostudytrendsaimingtominimizeclimateimpactand one ofits key contributors, fuel burn. Thecomparatively heavy disks, subjected to high thermal and mechanical loads, are central tothis analysis due to their highimpacton theoverall modulemass.Thispaperproposesanapproachtoachievea first lightweightmechanicaldesignofdisksinthepredesignphase. Based on a performance and aerodynamic baseline, the design space andphysical boundaryconditions areset. Firstly, an initial mass optimized disk is derived using simplified temperature profiles and stress calculations under the Mechanical Design Point conditions. Subsequently, all the module disks are consideredand an estimation for each bore temperature is achieved througha novel loopover the entire module and all available operating points. By evaluatingthe temperature and stress profiles across various operating conditions,thelowcyclefatiguelifeofeachdisk canbestudied. As part ofa highly modular engine predesign framework, this method allows for zooming capabilities of single disk calculationsbyprescribingindividualboundaryconditions.The proposedapproachalready yieldsan initialassessmentofthe rotorswithinashortruntime,facilitatingsimpleiterationswith the succeeding design phases due to method and tool commonalities.Whiletheprimaryfocusofthecurrentworkison compressor design, theprinciples presentedare adaptable and expandabletoturbinediskapplicationsaswell.