U

81-GT-202
AN ASME PUBLICATION
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Copyright © 1981 by ASME

A Generalized Mathematical Model

R. K. Agrawal
Senior Performance Analyst to Estimate Gas Turbine Starting
Characteristics
Assoc. Mem. ASME

M. Yunis
Computing Analyst
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft of Canada Ltd.,
Longueuil, Quebec, Canada
The paper describes a generalized mathematical model to estimate gas turbine
performance in the starting regime of the engine. These estimates are then used to
calculate the minimum engine starting torque requirements, thereby defining the
specifications for the aircraft starting system. Alternatively, the model can also be
used to estimate the start up time at any ambient temperature or altitude for a given
engine/aircraft starting system combination.

NOMENCLATURE detailed performance maps for the various components

in the engine. These maps, however, generally start
in mass flow to get well defined only beyond the engine idle speed
N rotational speed and are therefore of not much use in the starting
p static pressure regime. In addition, differences in characteristics
P total pressure of individual component types from one engine to
PR pressure ratio another which are so pronounced at higher speeds, have
R gas constant been found to become relatively small at the low
t static temperature speeds encountered in starting regime. It is thus
T total temperature possible to generalize the performance of a given
corrected pressure component type, e.g. compressor, by a single general-
Ah specific work ized map without introducing gross errors. Using
p efficiency these generalized maps, it is then possible to carry
0 corrected tereperature out transient performance analysis to estimate the
p static density engine starting characteristics. This then is the
torque approach followed in this model.

Subscripts AN OVERVIEW OF THE MODEL (This is presented in Fig.l)

amb ambient Generalized Component Characteristics

ACCEL acceleration
c compressor Compressor. The compressor as well as other
comb combustor engine component characteristics used in the model
HPC high pressure compressor are presented in the form of normalized parameters
R reference defining the performance of that component. Thus,
t turbine for the compressor these parameters would be flow,
specific work and efficiency as functions of speed.
INTRODUCTION To obtain these functional relationships, aero/thermo-
dynamic analyses of these components were carried out.
This paper describes a mathematical model devel- The compressor flow relation, for example, is derived
oped to estimate gas turbine performance in the as follows:
starting regime. Starting regime, here, is defined
as that part of the operating range which lies between The compressor mass flow through an annulus of Area
zero and engine idle speed. Aann is given by -
Estimation of engine performance requires

m= Ac -- \a = A.,VQ (c
Rt
where V a is the axial flow velocity and is related to
Contributed by the Gas Turbine Division of THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF
MECHANICAL ENGINEERS for presentation at the Gas Turbine Conference & the compressor flow factor (^), speed (N) and diameter
Products Show, March 9-12, 1981, Houston, Texas. Manuscript received at (Dc) by
ASME Headquarters December 22, 1980.
Copies will be available until December 1, 1981.
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0.8
Turbine 0.7
Compressor

component
0.6

w 0.5
Engine I I Starter
Flight aerodynamic motor
conditions characteristic characteri:
F 0.4
Fuel
schedule

0.3
matching
calcs.

Gas turbin e engin e

startingg model starting 0.2
torque

Oil I
0.1 R
Engine Engine
viscosity mechanical start up
effects characteristics time

Parasitic U 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

losses
(NI /)/ (NI 1)R
Windage
Figure 2: Compressor Inlet Flow Variation
Frictional

Figure 1: An Overview of the Model

and
Va = N D, (ii) ( )
720 k2< ( / (3)
Cc)R / N )
(
I;r/ Z
From (i) and (ii) and normalizing p and t

The functions K YG and K^•t c are once again

rrl = An 7r N Dc /1.696 (zz7) determined empirically.
72o R 5/8.7 It should, however, be noted that since the
engine does not operate at the steady state condition
in the starting regime, the values obtained from
Denoting the parameters in (iii) with a sub- equations (1) to (3) are used only as the first guess
script R at a given engine reference condition, values in the engine performance calculations. The
final values have to be obtained based on the flow
match between the turbine (s) and the nozzle areas
= SR A cin n 7(• Dc
/4.696 NRr^s (iv) as will be described later.
BR 720 R sig•7 a Equations (1) through (3) now define the equa-
tions governing the performance of the compressor and
are used to calculate the compression pressure ratio,
From (iii) and (iv) then, total compressor aerodynamic work and torque required
which is to be supplied either by the starter motor
or the turbine or both.
( 1 ) (N/ie)
= K^(N (i) Combustor. The main performance parameters here
/a) are the combustion efficiency and the combustor
R (N R R fg ) R pressure drop.
^
The combustor pressure drop value is established
Figure 2 shows this relation plotted based on based on data from a number of combustors and is
steady state data from a number of engines. presented to the model as a constant percentage of
Similarly, it can be shown that the steady state the combustor inlet pressure.
compressor work and efficiency will be represented In addition, an estimate of the combustion effic-
by: 2 iency is required, after the engine is lit up, to
0 ^,^^g _ KWC r() (2) calculate the turbine inlet temperature. It was
found that this could best be correlated as a function
(i..L/e)R of the combustor air loading parameter and the fuel/
air ratio. Thus,
/R
K

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 Li:]

T u r bine . Since the engine, in the starting

sequence, is not in steady state, the turbine work is
not equal to the compressor work as is the case for
comb = f ^^ZR ^^r^) (4)
steady state operation. Thus, the turbine work and
hence PR cannot be determined from the knowledge of
compressor work alone.
where, f/a is the fuel air ratio and is calculated In this model, the turbine PR is obtained by the

^_m
from the prescribed fuel flow schedule, and -n is following method:
defined as
P R t = 4
P = P P3 . P¢ P7 Po ()
P. p5 Pi
/•8 T-/340 p3 Ps P7
P /co^,b e
In this identity:
where m, P and T are the combustor inlet mass flow,
pressure and temperature and Vcomb is the combustion P1/PO = Inlet Pressure Ratio, P3/P1 = Compressor
chamber volume. Pressure Ratio (PR c ), P4/P3 = Combustor Pressure Loss
The functional relationships were once again (Assumed Constant), P5/P7 = Power Turbine or Second
obtained empirically and are shown in Figures 3 and 4. Turbine Pressure Ratio and P7/PO = Nozzle Pressure
The combustion efficiency is then calculated from: Ratio.
For a single spool gas generator, Pl/PO = P7/PO
1.0 (for a two spool gas generator P1/P0 is obtained
^OrY, fi9.2^ ^CenbR
`^ Com6 LC o.., L (f (5) as described in a later section). Also, as shown in
Figure 5, since the turbines and nozzles are operating
in series, the flow match between the turbines and the
where Ceo.nb-R is the combustion efficiency of the nozzle result in a unique value of P5/P7 for each
engine being analysed at a known reference point, value of P4/P5. Thus, for each compressor pressure
e.g. the engine Take Off condition. ratio, PR c , there is a unique value of PRt which
satisfies the engine area restrictions. PRt can then
be expressed as:
1.
PRt of PR C
0.
or, PRt _ kP PRc

PRt-R PRC-R

k,7comb = ncc
Occ-R Or,
P RE -I K PRc-I (7 l
0.94 P /

0.93 PR t _Q PRc-R
0.92

0.91
This relation is plotted in Fig. 6 for various
engines with differing design Compressor Pressure
0.89 Ratios. From this figure it is clear that the value
of Kp in equation (7) is a function of the design
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 compressor pressure ratio. In this mathematical model
S2/S2R therefore, a series of these lines have been built to
Figure 3: Combustion Efficiency Variation with S2 cover a wide range of present and probable future gas
turbine engines.
The variation of the turbine flow corresponding
to the pressure ratio used in equation (7) is shown
in Figure 7. This flow map was generated at varying
power turbine or the second turbine speed (in case of
a 2-spool gas generator) to simulate the operation in
the starting regime where the second turbine operates
at only a fraction of its design speed. This map
should therefore be representative of the operation
of two turbines in series in the starting region and
is assumed as the generalized turbine flow map in the
model.
The only other parameter required to assess the
turbine performance is the turbine efficiency. This
correlates best against the turbine Pressure Ratio and
is given by:

U
M (P -I)
(8 )
t -)
^PRt e
Figure 4: Combustion Efficiency Correction ^t-e

for Fuel Air Ratio

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'ut

P4 P
5 P7
P5 P7 Po

HP turbine LP turbine Nozzle

Figure 5: Series Operation of Turbine(s) and Nozzle

Land , Bon ^ I I/ N
is b s K9 ` f ) H PC (10)

e
R
r`^,
N
HPC R

where b R and 9 R are the normalized pressure and

temperature to the HP compressor inlet at the engine
reference point. Kg and K e are once again deter-
mined empirically.

Figure 6: Turbine PR Variation with Compressor PR Transient Matching Calculations

The transient matching calculations essentially
(m ✓T/P) / (m fT/P)R
involve matching the turbine flow with the compressor
In flow
flow. The turbine flow is a function of the turbine
pressure drop (Figure 7) which in turn is a function
0.8 of the compressor pressure ratio (Figure 6). At any
0.7 instant of time, both the compressor pressure ratio
and flow are dependent on the engine operating point
at that time. As shown in Figure 8, in general
during starting, the engine operates closer to choke
0.4 when being cranked and closer to surge when lit up.
The problem then is to find the position of this
operating point on the compressor map.
0.1j Now, the compressor map as defined by equations
(1) to (3) is based on steady state engine data.
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 Since, as shown in Figure 8, the engine is not oper-
(PRt-1) / (PRtR-1) ating on steady state, the map has to be modified as
Figure 7: Turbine Flow Variation with Pressure Ratio the engine moves away from the steady state opera-
tions. For the compressor efficiency, the steady
Equations (7) and (8) now enable the calculation state to transient modifier is correlated as:
of the Turbine total aerodynamic work and the Torque
which is supplied by the engine.
(mod) c {C^ mf
Two Spool Gas Generator (C. 'ic. S trans:snt ()I)
It was found that, in the starting region, the
LP spool which is only aerodynamically coupled to
Is S slc4.ry sE.fe
the HP spool has only a small effect on the starting
of the engine. In this model, this effect is accoun-
ted for by modifying the pressure and temperature and
into the HP compressor as per the following relation-
ships: cmod)
2C CEYQns rn) = ^ CStewly st.Ee ) [G )

I __
-Al Mn-2
r bcw _i N
= Kb 'I
L HPc
(9)
SR N where the transient has to be obtained through
HPC.
f HPC R iteration to match the compressor and turbine mass
flows.

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Effcy ZCt
Light up
Surge line
PR
Steady state except at very low ambient temperatures, the proporti-
•,\ N2
0 sometimes ignored in calculating engine starting
Ni torque requirements. In this model, however, this is
. Cranking
m`/Q
a temperatures (oil at temperatures above 130 F).
Figure 8: Engine Operating Lines on Compressor Map
When the engine is cranking (near choke), the
compressor steady state specific work is modified
similar to the efficiency, so that,
(0'^cl (APuI . (C$^l (3)
e /{ran
B /shoddy ` 6 / rnod
Skate
C Ea^yn 3^
where
1 (,+)
L iii..e1 s;e through B3 are based on experimental data.
- K
B / wood (m/91
/ sb<ady
r-
—
sk.tc
Equations (12) and (13) then give the transient
compressor pressure ratio when the engine is cranking.
For the situation when the engine is lit and the
compressor is operating near surge, it was found that
the compressor PR remains approximately constant at
the steady state value (implying a horizontal speed
line as shown in Figure 8)_ For these cases then,
the model assumes the compressor PR calculated using
steady state values of compressor efficiency and work
constant for all transient calculations and the trans-
ient work (AB-)tran is calculated using this PR and
the transient efficiency from equation (12).
The transient matching calculations then comprise
changing the compressor inlet flow, m e , with corres-
ponding changes in A k c,, 2, , PR c , Compressor
Delivery Temperature (T3), 'Zcomb' Turbine Inlet
Temperature (T4), Calculated Turbine inlet flow and
PRt. With this PRt, the turbine map (Fig.7) gives
the allowable turbine inlet flow. This then has to
be matched with the calculated turbine flow to give
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the final engine operating point.
ENGINE MECHANICAL CHARACTERISTICS
The engine mechanical configuration gives rise to
mechanical losses which adds to the compressor aero-
dynamic torque requirements to result in the total
engine torque requirements to be supplied either by
the starter or the turbine or both.
Mechanical losses in the engine are incurred due
to mechanical frictional loss in bearings and gears
and aerodynamic windage loss in the compressor and
turbine discs as well as on the impeller face. In
addition some work is also required to power the fuel
control unit, fuel pump and the oil pump. However,
on of the mechanical loss is generally less than 5% of
the compressor aerodynamic power requirement and is
not the case and the mechanical losses are accounted
for by splitting them into two categories:
(i) Basic parasitic loss, At normal operating
(ii) Additional viscosity effects to account for
°
low oil temperatures.
Basic Parasitic Loss
These are further divided into two components -
Frictional and Windage where the frictional losses
would be a function of the engine mechanical speed
and the windage loss that of the aerodynamic speed.
Additionally, in this model the parasitic losses are
correlated as a fraction of the required compressor
torque calculated in the previous sections. Thus,
(t/'Ce.c,, ) = A° t - Ai 7^-+A-, x- (15)
yv iN DA4E
2 3
(z/ r P^ FR/c710N = Bo i- (I')
Clnd, `t orasikic = tw"JD+ ZFRIc ^17)
Wkere, . ("JI re) /( N/f)R
q .+d N M R
The polynomial coefficients A0 through A2 and B 0
Additional Viscosity Effects
These were obtained empirically from cold day
tests. The additional viscosity effects are to simu-
late the increase in the engine mechanical torque
requirements as the drag resistance in the engine
increases with reducing ambient temperatures and were,
therefore, correlated as a function of the ambient
temperature. This is then used as a multiplier on the
basic parasitic loss calculated from equation (17) to
give the final engine Mechanical Torque
The total torque required by the engine, and to
be supplied by either the starter or the turbine or
both at any given speed (N) is then given by:
(i a )
`^ RoToR _ `C co.v.b t' t- M ec H
I
STARTER MOTOR CHARACTERISTIC
This information is required when an existing
starter motor is to be used and the starting time to
bring the engine from rest to a given speed, e.g. the


Torque (ft-f b)
60
1100 AMPS Nominal starter performance
series field and open shunt
1000 windings at 77°F
50

900 Typical starter

assist with 28V
40 800 battery a 0° F

700
30 1 20 24 28 32\36 40 qq y^
0 600

500
20
400
12 ^.
300
10 . ^^-

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 90

Speed in RPM

Figure 9: Starter Motor Performance Grid

ground idle speed is to be estimated using this
starter motor.
The motor characteristic is obtained from the 22- 0+60°F 0
performance grid, such as that shown in Figure 9,
and is supplied by the motor manufacturer. From this 20 Test-../
grid, the torque vs. speed curve for the given motor/ 0• X
battery combination can be obtained. This then is o ,! Model
the torque supplied to the engine by the starter which C) 18
in conjunction with the positive turbine torque over- 7
comes the negative rotor torque (Equation 18) and
provides a positive acceleration torque ( (ACCEL) to 41 161 (.7
accelerate the engine from rest. C)
C 14
STARTING TIME ESTIMATION 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
The starting time is the total time required to
Starter speed (rpm x 10 -2 )
bring the engine from rest to a given speed, e.g. the Figure 10: 'ENGINE I' - Starting Tests
ground idle speed.
Now, at any instant of time, the acceleration Figure 10 shows the test and the corresponding
torque is given by: model data at one representative ambient temperature.
The model output can be seen to have a close agree-
= 27C Tp dN ment with the test data.
^^hcceL =P'
11 t dt
Engine II
Tests on this turboshaft engine covered a temper-
and from this, °
ature range of -65 F to 130 F and gave total start °
Na1uAL time for bringing the engine from rest to idle speed.
= 2 7r Ip d N ((9) The start time was recorded with the engine fired at
representative firing speed, e.g. 10% of the gas
J ci 'CAteEL-
N=o generator design speed. The model was then used to
exactly duplicate this start sequence and estimate the
where: starting time requirements.
140
t = total starting time
120 Test
Ip = polar moment of inertia of the rotating
components on the start shaft 100 i
U-

NFINAL = final speed in the start cycle 80

9, i Model
60
The starting time is then calculated by the io 1
numerical integration of equation (19). 40
a 1
£ 20 1
MODEL VALIDATION 11
r 0 1
1
1
The model was validated against data available i
- 20
from starting tests on three different types of c
engines - labelled
- 40 here "Engine I", "Engine II", and 1
"Engine III" - representing powerplants for turbojets,
-60
turboprops and helicopters.
-80
0 20 40 60 80
Engine I
Starting tests on this turbofan engine were Starting time - sec
conducted at the Low Temperature Laboratory of the Figure 11: 'ENGINE II' - Starting Time vs. Inlet
National Research Council of Canada. Air Temperature

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 Figure 11 shows the comparison of the model and
test starting time requirements at various inlet air
temperatures. It can be seen that in all cases the
30
model was able to estimate the start time within 5 Required — Tamb1 = .762
seconds, with the model being conservative. -•-•-Tamb2 = 1.000
-- Tamb3 = 1.137
Engine III
/Firing speed
This, like Engine I, is a twin spool gas genera-
tor used in a turboprop application. Cranking tests
on this engine were conducted and covered a speed
range of 10% to 22% of the design speed.
Figure 12 shows the plot of the test and corres-
ponding model data. The model was found to be within
10% of the test data - this time the model being
optimistic. It should, however, be noted that these
tests were conducted with an uncalibrated starter
-10 supplied
and the starting torque value for the starter motor
was obtained from the speed and current measurements
using the performance grid supplied by the manufac- Nstarter (KRPM)
turer. This grid assumes new motor efficiencies. -20 --r^-Trr
The motor performance, however, deteriorates with
0 1 2 3 4
usage, thereby reducing the actual torque output for
given starter and speed values. Thus it is possible
that the test torque values shown on Figure 12 may 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
not be those actually supplied to the engine but are Gas generator speed NGG
on the higher side which will then close some of the
gap between the test data and the model estimates. Figure 13: 'ENGINE IV' - Starting Characteristics
20
0 Test points

15
a
Test
, 10

2•
0
5 compression work. This rather peculiar characteristic
Model
10 15
NH - %
Figure 12: 'ENGINE III' - Cranking Torque
SAMPLE RESULTS
The model was used to generate starting charac-
teristics for a hypothetical engine, labelled 'Engine
IV'. This engine had a twin spool gas generator with
the high spool being motored by the starter.
Figure 13 shows the preliminary starting charac-
teristics for the engine at sea level static con-
dition. The torque requirements were estimated at
°
three ambient temperatures (+130 F, 59 F, -65 F). °
The minimum firing speed was taken as 10% and a
constant fuel schedule was assumed with a minimum
fuel flow setting of 100 lb/hr.
Discussions of the Results
During cranking, i.e. when the engine is not
fired, the engine starting torque requirements reduce
with increasing ambient temperatures. This is to be
expected since at any given rotational speed, the
engine operates at lower aerodynamic speed as the
ambient temperature is increased, thereby reducing
the required compression work.
The engine torque requirements fall, giving a
saw tooth characteristic, when the engine is fired.
However, as the engine is sped up the required torque
rises momentarily before the assist from the engine
turbine is able to more than offset the increase in
could be due to relatively low design PR on the high
spool. This is because at very low HP spool speed
when the LP spool is not providing any compression,
the PR on the HP spool is very low and although the
TIT is relatively high, the turbine does not have
enough PR to convert this into useful turbine work.
This situation is specially pronounced at higher ambi-
ent temperatures where, for a given speed, the avail-
able PR is lower still.
Another peculiar feature of these characteristics
seems to be that the torque required by the engine
goes up between 30 and 40% NH at all the three ambient
temperatures. This was because in this speed range
the specified fuel schedule does not provide enough
fuel, thereby limiting the TIT. Before 30% NH, the
engine operates on the minimum fuel flow setting and
after 40%, P3 is sufficiently high to ensure adequate
° fuel supply. As a result, as shown in Figure 14, the
available accelerating torque takes a dip between this
speed range and the engine requires about 30 seconds
to get through this dip. It can be seen from the
figure that tuning the fuel schedule did reduce that
°
dip which, at -65 F ambient temperature, resulted in
a reduction of 30 seconds in the estimated start time.
Finally for this particular engine, with 10%
firing speed the estimated maximum torque required by
the engine was about 8.2 lb-ft. The minimum starter
torque will therefore have to be greater than this and
such that to provide adequate acceleration torque. In
addition, for a successful start the starter motor will
have to provide some assist all the way up to about
40% NGG. These two requirements would then govern the
sizing of the host aircraft starting system.

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 TOACC
25
20
15
10
5
0
1 1111
1M11 111 1111

Gas generator speed NGG Fuel SCH. 6.0

Figure 14: Effect of Fuel Schedule
Variation on l ACCEL

CONCLUSIONS

The mathematical model described in this paper,

although based on generalized component character-
istics as well as a number of simplifying assump-
tions, does give fairly good preliminary estimates
of gas turbine starting characteristics. These
estimates could be specially useful when assessing
the overall performance of an engine starting system
in a new engine/aircrsft development stage and could
possibly reduce the number of test iterations requir-
ed to arrive at the best engine/start system com-
bination. The emphasis on reduction is intentional
since the model, being based on generalized charact-
eristics, is not expected to simulate individual
engine/aircraft peculiarities and hence can be used
only as a first go at getting the desired aircraft
starting system.

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