INSPIRE INSpiring Pressure gain combustion Integration, Research, and Education

ESR 14, Sreenath Purushothaman, presented a poster at the 79th annual ATI Congress in Genova, Italy (4-6 September 2024)

  25 October 2024

Sreenath Purushothaman, presented a poster at the 79th annual ATI Congress in Genova, Italy (4-6 September 2024) organized by ATI - Associazione Termotecnica Italiana Nazionale under the AIMSEA - Associazione Italiana delle Macchine a fluido e dei sistemi per l'Energia e l'Ambiente poster presentation category. The poster, titled “Dynamic Modelling of a Closed-loop, 2 Phase Compression System for Heat Pump Applications”, is about the ongoing work in modelling post-stall transients in a heat pump system. This is an improvement on the work previously published in ASME Turbo Expo 2024 () & in the Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power (). The model predictions were validated using the experimental test rig installed at TPG UNIGE and represents the progress towards developing a sturdy model of closed-loop compression systems using empirical correlations for low frequency instabilities. Sreenath also received a micro-grant from Marie Curie Alumni Association, through the MCAA-New-Horizon Project, for this congress.” Read more

ESR12 Panagiotis Gallis published a paper in the Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power

  25 October 2024

The paper titled “Numerical Analysis and Design of New Exhaust Section Downstream of Constant Volume Combustor” has been published in the Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power. This activity was presented at ASME International Gas Turbine Institute Turbo Expo 2024 in London.The paper focuses on the effective design of a transition duct that integrates a high-pressure turbine vane with a constant volume combustor developed by the PPRIME Institute. A parametric analysis using CFD unsteady calculations uncovered the optimal shape for the transition duct. Additionally, the unsteady performance of the cascade downstream of this unconventional combustor is presented. Read more

INSPIRE MSCA-ETN Project Final Symposium – Florence, 26-27 September, 2024

  21 October 2024

During the two-day event, INSPIRE ESRs presented the main achievements of their research projects over the past three years. Two prestigious plenary lectures opened each day's proceedings: the first one by Daniel Paxson, from NASA (USA) and the other one by Prof. Ephraim Gutmark, from University of Cincinnati (USA). Read more

ESR8 Thomas Golliard presented his results at the ERCOFTAC SIG39 Symposium about Coherent Structures in Aeroacoustics in Rome

  5 August 2024

Thomas presented some results at the ERCOFTAC SIG39 Symposium about Coherent Structures in Aeroacoustics in Rome () which took place from the the 10th to the 12th of June. The title of the presentation was "Coherent structures and aeroacoustics of a swirling supersonic jet exhausting an aerospike nozzle". In particular, it was identified the main coherent structures responsible for the tonalities propagating in the far-field for the supersonic, swirling aerospike nozzle jet by applying 3D SPOD on near-field pressure data. Read more

ESR8 Thomas Golliard presented a paper in ASME TurboExpo 2024 in London

  5 August 2024

The paper was called "Swirling Flow Effects on the Aeroacoustic Signature of an Aerospike Nozzle". It looks into the effect of different swirl numbers on the cold, supersonic aerospike nozzle jet and the resulting aeroacoustic behaviour. It is found that higher swirl numbers suppress the screeching component and reduce the influence of the mixing noise. On the other hand, tonal components linked to the main azimuthal mode and its higher harmonics are enhance due to the swirling boundary conditions. Read more

ESR8 Thomas Golliard presented a paper at AIAA/CEAS Aeroacoustics 2024, in Rome

  5 August 2024

The paper was called "Swirling flow effects on highly-heated aerospike nozzle jets". It deals with the characterization of the flow characteristics and the resulting aeroacoustic features of a supersonic aerospike nozzle subject to high temperature boundary conditions (up to 2000K) with a swirling component. It is a preliminary study to understand how a single swirl number affects the supersonic jet and is relevant to later grasp how rotating detonation combustion will influence the jet and the corresponding aeroacoustic signature. We found that swirling flow leads to weaker Mach wave radiation and lower Overall Sound Pressure Levels compared to the baseline cases without swirl.  Read more

ESR12 Panagiotis Gallis presented 2 papers in ASME TurboExpo 2024

  5 July 2024

Panagiotis presented two papers at ASME International Gas Turbine Institute Turbo Expo 2024.The work was performed at Politecnico di Torino under the framework of the INSPIRE MSCA-ETN Project:Panagiotis G., Misul D.A., Boust B., Bellenoue M., Salvadori S.2024. Numerical Analysis and Design of New Exhaust Section Downstream of Constant Volume Combustor. Proc. of the ASME Turbo Expo 2024, London, UK, June 24–28, 2024, Paper No. GT2024-129204This paper describes the design using CFD analysis of an effective exhaust section downstream of a CVC that mounts this type of PGC with a High-Pressure Turbine Vane. Panagiotis G. Salvadori S., Misul D.A., 2024. Numerical Analysis of a Flow Control System for High-Pressure Turbine Vanes Subject to Highly Oscillating Inflow Conditions. Proc. of the ASME Turbo Expo 2024, London, UK, June 24–28, 2024, Paper No. GT2024-126791. This work focused on the design of a High-Pressure Turbine vane with diffusive endwalls which can ingest the high enthalpy flow of a Rotating Detonation Engine. Moreover, a flow control concept is proposed aiming at supressing the motion of the enlarged secondary flows of the newly designed cascade. Read more

INSPIRE Fellows at the ASME International Gas Turbine Institute Turbo Expo 2024 in London.

  5 July 2024

A great week for INSPIRE MSCA-ETN Project at the ASME International Gas Turbine Institute Turbo Expo 2024 in London. Most PhD Candidates of the network had the chance to present their recent progress with very high-quality papers and to promote their research thanks to the unique networking opportunities of the event. Read more

ESR13 Abhishek Dubey presented a paper in ASME TurboExpo 2024

  5 July 2024

Abhishek presented his research work at ASME International Gas Turbine Institute Turbo Expo 2024. The GT2024-124972 paper titled “A Comprehensive Thermodynamic Analysis of Gas Turbine Combined Cycles with Pressure Gain Combustion Based on Humphrey Cycle” investigated the potential performance benefits of pressure gain combustion based on constant volume combustion on gas turbine combined cycles through detailed thermodynamic simulations for designing more efficient, sustainable and clean power generation.The work was performed at the Thermochemical Power Group ( TPG ) Power Group at the Università degli Studi di Genova under the framework of the INSPIRE MSCA-ETN Project. Read more

ESR10 Shreyas Ramanagar Sridhara presented a paper in ASME TurboExpo 2024

  5 July 2024

ESR10 talked about some of the recent investigations performed in Università degli Studi di Firenze at the ASME (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers) Turbo Expo 2024 conference. The paper have been presented in the "11-04 Numerical investigations of combustor heat transfer" session at 10:30 AM on June 27th. Read more

2 papers by ESR14, Sreenath Purushothaman have been presented at the ASME Turbo Expo 2024

  5 July 2024

The first paper is titled "Centrifugal Compressor Surge in Closed Loop Systems: Initial Modelling and Comparison With Experiments"(GT2024-122800 - recommended for journal publication), written in collaboration with Dr Federico Reggio, Prof Alberto Traverso, Dr Carlo Alberto Niccolini Marmont Du Haut Champ, Prof Paolo Silvestri (TPG UNIGE)and Dr Chaitanya Halbe (Carrier HVAC) and will be presented by Prof Alberto Traverso. The second paper is titled "Performance comparison of gas turbine layouts with Pressure Gain Combustion for propulsion applications" (GT2024-127816), written in collaboration with Prof Alessandro Sorce, Prof Alberto Traverso (TPG UNIGE) and Dr Thomas GAILLARD (ONERA - The French Aerospace Lab) and will be presented by Prof Alessandro Sorce. Read more

ESR 15, Gokkul Raj Varatharajulu Purgunan, presented a paper in ASME TurboExpo 2024

  27 June 2024

ESR 15, Gokkul Raj Varatharajulu Purgunan, presented a paper in ASME TurboExpo 2024; Title: A Reduced Order Methodology for Optimizing Turbine Expanders Working With Rotating Detonation Combustors Authors : Gokkul Raj Varatharajulu Purgunan, Majid Asli, Roman Klopsch, Josh Meister, and Panagiotis Stathopoulos Read more

ESR12 Panagiotis Gallis presented a paper in 13th International Workshop on Detonation for Propulsion, Michigan, USA

  17 June 2024

Panos presented the short paper named "Inert Experimental Characterization of an Exhaust System Downstream of a CVC" in 13th International Workshop on Detonation for Propulsion June 10-14, 2024 hosted by University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.This work describes prelinimary results of the experimental investigation of the newly designed exhaust system of CVC for inactive cases using PIV and pressure measurements. Read more

6th and 7th October, 2024, Torino, 6th INSPIRE MSCA-ETN Project meeting

  9 May 2024

Politecnico di Torino hosted the 6th INSPIRE MSCA-ETN Project meeting on 6th and 7th October, 2024. The meeting consisted of ESRs presenting the results of their activities, each of which was enriched by a lively group discussion. Read more

ESR 5, Mr. Provence Barnouin, presented a paper at the ‘AIAA SciTech Forum and Exposition 2024′ conference.

  1 March 2024

Provence Barnouin, Eric Bach, Ephraim J. Gutmark, Christian O. Paschereit and Myles Bohon were also awarded for the best paper submitted in 2023, in the Pressure Gain Combustion category. Read more

ESR 8, Mr. Thomas Golliard, presented a paper titled ‘Numerical Analysis of an Ejector under Pulsating Inflow Characteristic of RDC Exhaust Conditions’ conference

  21 February 2024

The article present the newest results about the aeroacoustics of an aerospike nozzle jet at high temperatures. Read more

ESR 2, Mr. Gregory Uhl, presented a paper titled ‘Numerical Analysis of an Ejector under Pulsating Inflow Characteristic of RDC Exhaust Conditions' at the ‘AIAA SciTech Forum and Exposition 2024′ conference

  21 February 2024

The work investigated how the behavior of an ejector changes when it is subjected to pulsating flow, with time-magnitude oscillations representative of an RDC exhaust. The study was conducted with the support of Said Taileb, Stéphan Zurbach (Safran Tech), Nicolas Odier, Thierry Poinsot (CERFACS) and Marc Bellenoue (ENSMA). Read more

ESR 10, Mr. Shreyas RAMANAGAR SRIDHARA, presented a paper titled ‘Quantification of Heat Loads for Rotating Detonation Combustors with Gas Turbine Conditions' at the ‘AIAA SciTech Forum and Exposition 2024′ conference

  19 February 2024

The focus of this paper was to evaluate heat loads of a Rotating Detonation Combustor (RDC) with various outlet restrictions to simulate a gas turbine scenario. A global heat transfer model was deduced for predicting the heat leads at a required thermal power. Read more

ESR 15, Mr. Gokkul Raj Varatharajulu Purgunan, presented a paper titled ‘0D and Quasi 1D modelling of the Rotating Detonation Combustor’ at the ‘AIAA SciTech Forum and Exposition 2024' conference

  19 February 2024

The paper "0D and Quasi 1D Rotating Detonation Combustor" has been presented at the AIAA SCITECH 2024 Forum, Orlando, USA. Read more

ESR 11, Mr. Umberto Sandri, presented a paper titled ‘Film cooling in Supersonic Flow: Experiment design and CFD investigation’ at the ‘AIAA SciTech Forum and Exposition 2024' conference

  19 February 2024

The paper presented, follows the research work with an outline of the reasons that led to the investigation of film cooling in supersonic flow as a fundamental mean to satisfy the tremendous cooling requirements of Rotating Detonation Engines (#RDE). In addition, the paper describes the design of the developed test rig, CFD results predicting its performance and the description of the experimental techniques implemented, required to complete the ongoing investigation. Read more

ESR 14, Mr. Sreenath Purushothaman, presented a paper titled ‘Performance Modelling of a Pressure Gain Combustion Aircraft Engine’ at the ‘AIAA SciTech Forum and Exposition 2024' conference

  19 February 2024

Sreenath Purushothaman, presented a paper titled ‘Performance Modelling of a Pressure Gain Combustion Aircraft Engine' at the ‘AIAA SciTech Forum and Exposition 2024’ conference (Paper No: AIAA 2024-0814), during the session ‘PGC Applications, Integration and Thermal Management’, on January 9, 2024. In this paper, the performance of pressure gain combustion in the framework of aircraft propulsion using the in-house simulation tool ‘TRANSEO’ is being done. This represents the first step in the system level analysis of the novel & promising technology of PGC in aerospace propulsion domain. The work comprises of developing modelling strategy for an aircraft engine in 100 kN thrust class & its validation, design of a simple PGC based propulsion engine layout, and the design-point performance prediction of this layout. This research activity was conducted at TPG UNIGE with Prof Alessandro Sorce, Prof Alberto Traverso, Dr Thomas GAILLARD and Dr Dmitry Davidenko  Read more

“What to do with my PhD?” – 8 April 2024

  29 January 2024

On April 8 at 2:30 p.m., Prof. Giovanni Mastrolonardo will take a lecture with the title "What to do with my PhD?", as part of the INSPIRE transferrable skills. The course will be held online and in-person at UNIFI facilities Read more

INSPIRE at AIAA SciTech Forum 2024 at Orlando, USA

  11 January 2024

The ESRs from INSPIRE are at AIAA SciTech Forum 2024 at Orlando, USA. 9 papers about the frontier of Pressure Gain Combustion research have been presented. Read more

23-27 October, 2023, Genoa – 5th INSPIRE meeting and Training on System dynamics and control in theory and practice & Innovation and Entrepreneurship Start-up School

  13 November 2023

Università degli Studi di Genova hosted the 5th INSPIRE MSCA-ETN Project meeting on 23rd and 24th October, 2023. The meeting consisted of 13 ESR presenting their activities in person and 2 remotely, with representatives from host & partner institutes assessing and contributing to the work.  From October 25 to 27 there were the Training on System dynamics and control in theory and practice and the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Start-up School. The training included a visit to the Tirreno Power SpA Combined Cycle Power Plant, in Vado Ligure Read more