My research group collaborators at Turbo Expo 2024

Future Propulsion and Power (EPSRC CDT) – Maximilian Farfaras.

In June, I travelled with my research group to this year’s American Society of Mechanical Engineers Turbo Expo Conference in London, which is the foremost turbomachinery conference and the largest mechanical engineering conference in the world, with approximately 3000 students, academics, and industry professionals in attendance. The keynote speaker and plenary panel sessions were a great opportunity to understand industry’s initiatives, motivations and concerns. This was invaluable to our research as it underscores the areas we need to focus on in order to meet the 2050 Net-Zero targets of the aviation sector.

It was an incredible week, with significant opportunity to network with the leaders of the aerospace propulsion sector in both academia and industry. Alongside the technical sessions, we also attended the Expo, where organisations such as NASA, GE Aerospace, Rolls-Royce, Siemens and many more who had booths and/or representatives to showcase their recent technology initiatives. The Expo also featured a student poster competition which was a good way to quickly see what direction others around the world are taking their research.

Macdonald presenting our paper

It was great to get feedback and understand the current trends in our area of research. Inside a jet engine, there are three main components, the compressor, the combustor, and the turbine, which drives the compressor as well as the fan (which provides the majority of the thrust). The turbine is also subject to extremely high temperatures in excess of 2000K. It is critical to cool this effectively by taking a portion of the compressor air and passing it through the turbine blades and over their surface. The challenge is to do this efficiently to minimise the negative impact on specific fuel consumption and thus emissions.

In this field, being able to improve the efficiency of a single component by 0.1% can translate to millions of tonnes of CO2 savings and dozens of millions of dollars in cost savings related to the decrease in fuel consumption when scaled across the industry (which is realistic due to the modularity of the components).

Our design features approximately double the cooling film effectiveness of conventional designs without compromising aerodynamic performance, allowing for significant efficiency, cost, and life improvements. We were delighted to hear that the paper was accepted to journal and nominated for a best paper award! We will find out next year if we were successful (fingers crossed).

Find out more about the range of travel grants and scholarships available to assist Univ students on our Travel Grants page or read further travel reports.

Published: 19 July 2024

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