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Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2018

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Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition

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GT2018
June 11-15, 2018, Oslo, Norway

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GT2018-75501

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DUAL DRIVE BOOSTER FOR A TWO-SPOOL TURBOFAN:
HIGH SHAFT POWER OFFTAKE CAPABILITY FOR MEA AND HYBRID AIRCRAFT
CONCEPTS

Vadim Kloos Trevor H. Speak

Institute of Jet Propulsion and Derwent Aviation Consulting Ltd
Turbomachinery 58-60 Wetmore Road
RWTH Aachen University Burton on Trent, DE14 1SN, UK
Templergraben 55, 52062 Aachen, Germany Email: trevor.speak@hotmail.com
Email: kloos@ist.rwth-aachen.de

Robert J. Sellick Peter Jeschke

Derwent Aviation Consulting Ltd
58-60 Wetmore Road
Burton on Trent, DE14 1SN, UK
Email: robertsellick@msn.com
Institute of Jet Propulsion and
Turbomachinery
RWTH Aachen University
Templergraben 55, 52062 Aachen, Germany
Email: jeschke@ist.rwth-aachen.de

ABSTRACT presented concept mitigates some of the problems which are

The effects of high shaft power offtake in a direct drive, a
geared drive, and a novel turbofan configuration are
investigated. A design and off-design performance analysis
shows the configuration specific limitations and advantages.
The more electric aircraft (MEA) concept promises to offer
advantages with respect to aircraft performance, maintenance
and operating costs. The engines for the MEA concept are based
on conventional turbofan architectures. These engines are
designed for significantly increased shaft power offtake that is
required by the airframe, and the shaft power is usually taken off
the high-pressure spool. This can impair the off-design
performance of the engine and lead to compromises during
engine design and to operability limitations. Taking the power
off the low-pressure spool mitigates some of the problems but has
other limitations. In this work, an alternative novel turbofan
architecture is investigated for its potential to avoid the problems
related to high shaft power offtakes. This architecture is called
the dual drive booster because it uses a summation gearbox to
drive the booster from both the low- and high-pressure spool.
The shaft power, if taken off the booster spool, is effectively
provided by both the low- and high-pressure spools, which
allows the provision of very high power levels. This new concept
is benchmarked against a two-spool direct drive and a geared
drive turbofan. Furthermore, it is described, how the new
architecture can incorporate an embedded motor generator. The
encountered during high power offtake in conventional
configurations. In particular, the core compressors are less
affected by a change in shaft power offtake. This allows higher
power offtakes and gives more flexibility during engine design
and operation. Additionally, the potential to use the new
configuration as a gas turbine-electric hybrid engine is assessed,
where electrical power boost is applied during critical flight
phases. The ability to convert additional shaft power is
compared with conventional configurations. Here, the new
configuration also shows superior behavior because the core
compressors are significantly less affected by power input than
in conventional configurations. The spool speed and its variation
is more suitable for electrical machines than in conventional
configuration with low-pressure spool power transfer.
The dual drive booster concept is particularly suited for
applications with high shaft power offtakes and inputs, and
should be considered for propulsion of more electric aircrafts.
INTRODUCTION
Current aircraft systems use pneumatic, hydraulic, and
electric power. Power of all three forms is generated by the
engines and their accessories. Hydraulic and electric power is
generated by hydraulic pumps and generators, respectively.
These are driven through a gear system by one of the shafts of
the engine. The pneumatic power is provided by the engines

1 Copyright © 2018 ASME

through bleed air offtake. More recently, there are efforts to The investigation of the DDBTF configuration is conducted
reduce or eliminate the pneumatic and hydraulic systems so that with a modified version of the gas turbine performance software
only electrical power is distributed across the airframe. This “GasTurb 13”. This software is used to perform performance
concept is called the more electric aircraft (MEA) and has led to studies of all three engine configurations. In order to assess the
changed requirements on the aircraft’s engines. While bleed air DDBTF, an engine model of each configuration (DDTF, GTF,
is reduced, the shaft power offtake (POT) increases significantly DDBTF) is created with an uninstalled sea level static thrust of
to compensate the loss of pneumatic energy and due to increased 143 kN (32,150 lbf) for the application in a two-engine single-
power requirements of the airframe. aisle commercial aircraft. These models are then benchmarked
Conventionally, shaft power is taken only off the under different operating conditions with varying POT levels in
high-pressure (HP) spool, mostly because it has a small variation order to find the conceptual peculiarities and highlight the
of spool speed during off-design operation and the generator can DDBTF features. The engine models are not created for high
be used as a motor to start the engine. However, when POT POT levels from the outset because the right design strategy is
increases, it represents an increasing percentage of the HP difficult to foresee. Furthermore, this might compromise clarity
turbine (HPT) power, which leads to a bigger mismatch between of results. Therefore, variable geometry, which has a strong
the HP compressor (HPC) and the HPT when POT levels vary. influence on the performance, is considered only at the end of
At high POT levels, the surge margin (SM) of the HPC this work. At first, constant component maps are used. The main
decreases, and this has to be accounted for during design, which aim of this paper is to improve the understanding of the DDBTF
leads to design compromises. This problem has led to alternative with high POT levels and preliminarily assess its potential for
POT architectures where some or all of the POT is taken off a MEAs and as a hybrid electric concept. In further studies, the
different spool. For example, in the three spool turbofan Trent shown DDBTF behaviors can be taken into account during
1000 of Rolls-Royce, shaft power is taken off the intermediate- design to obtain improved engine models.
pressure spool [1]. Furthermore, there have been several
investigations to take the power off the low-pressure (LP) spool, NOMENCLATURE
e.g. [2–5]. However, LP spool POT has not been realized so far, BS booster spool
mostly due to the high speed range of the LP spool during off- DDBTF dual drive booster turbofan
design and the low LP spool speed [2]. In hybrid electric engine DDTF (two-spool) direct drive turbofan
concepts, the LP spool is generally used for power input [6]. This 𝑔 gear ratio parameter
requires a second electric machine to start the engine [5]. GTF geared drive turbofan
In [7] the novel turbofan engine configuration “dual drive HP high-pressure
booster” turbofan (DDBTF1) is presented that uses a summation HPC high-pressure compressor
gearbox to drive the booster from the LP and HP spool, see Fig. HPS high-pressure spool
1. In this configuration, it appears advantageous to take power HPT high-pressure turbine
off the booster spool because it is then effectively provided by LP low-pressure
both the LPT and the HPT. Through the summation gearbox, the LPS low-pressure spool
POT is distributed on both spools which results in less loading LPT low-pressure turbine
on each individual turbine. It is therefore expected that this MEA more electric aircraft
configuration can supply the high level of POT that is required 𝑁 spool speed
in MEAs. Furthermore, the rotational speed of the booster is 𝑛 relative spool speed
higher than the LP spool speed. OL operating line
The aim of this paper is to investigate the performance of 𝑃 total pressure
the DDBTF configuration when high POT levels are taken off POT power offtake
the booster spool. In order to assess these effects, the DDBTF PR pressure ratio
configuration is benchmarked against two conventional engine PW shaft power
configurations: the two-spool direct drive turbofan (DDTF) and SM surge margin
the geared drive turbofan (GTF). In the course of this 𝑇 (total) temperature
investigation, several questions regarding high POT levels are TO hot day take-off
answered for the DDBTF. The potential of this configuration for TOC top of climb
hybrid electric propulsion is assessed when high levels of power 𝑊 mass flow
are fed into the engine during critical flight phases. Besides the
investigation of the high POT effects, the paper also includes Greek Symbols
additional findings about the DDBTF that were not presented in 𝜂𝐶 isentropic overall compression efficiency
[7]. In particular, the operating lines of the booster and the HPC Subscripts
in a DDBTF are analyzed. B booster spool
H HP spool

1
Note the altered abbreviation compared to [7]

2 Copyright © 2018 ASME

 ISA International Standard Atmosphere The components which rotate with 𝑁L , 𝑁H , and 𝑁B are marked
L LP spool blue, red, and green in Fig. 1 respectively. Unlike in the GTF, no
ref design point value torque support is needed for this gear system, because the torques
RSTD standard day corrected of the input and output members balance out. During off-design,
the relative booster spool speed 𝑛B is a function of the relative
CONCEPT DESCRIPTION LP and HP spool speeds, 𝑛L and 𝑛H respectively, see Eq. (4). The
A detailed description of the DDBTF concept can be found weighting factors of 𝑛L and 𝑛H are constant and their sum is
in [7,8]. Here only a short description is given which is sufficient always 1. With higher gear ratio and higher speed ratio of the HP
to understand the presented work. An epicyclic gearbox, which and LP spool the influence of the HP spool speed on the booster
acts as a summation gearbox, is connected to the LP spool, the off-design behavior increases. Fig. 2 shows the whole DDBTF
HP spool, and the booster spool. Fig. 1 shows a cross-section of configuration.
such an arrangement. 𝑁H,ref
𝑁B 𝑔+1 𝑔
𝑁L,ref
𝑛B = = 𝑛L + 𝑛H (4 )
𝑁B,ref 𝑁 𝑁
𝑔 + 1 + H,ref 𝑔 𝑔 + 1 + H,ref 𝑔
𝑁L,ref 𝑁L,ref

2 21 24 25 16 18
22

44 45 5 6 8
41
3 31 4

Fig. 1 Summation Gearbox

The LP and HP spool are the input members, and the booster
spool is the output member of the gearbox. The power share of
each input member (𝑃𝑊L : power from LP spool; 𝑃𝑊H : power
from HP spool) on the output power (𝑃𝑊B : booster spool power)
is a function of the gear ratio 𝑔 and the ratio of the rotational
speed of the input members (𝑁L : LP spool speed; 𝑁H : HP spool
speed), see Eqs. (1) and (2).
𝑁 directly to the fan and facilitates the operability of the engine.
𝑃𝑊H 𝑔 H
𝑁L
= (1 )
𝑃𝑊B 1 + 𝑔 (1 + 𝑁H )
𝑁L
𝑃𝑊L 𝑃𝑊H
= 1−
𝑃𝑊B 𝑃𝑊B (2 )
The rotational speed of the output member (𝑁B : booster spool
speed) is a function of the gear ratio and the rotational speed of
the input members, see Eq. (3). The gear ratio is uniquely defined
by the gearbox geometry. The theoretical limits of the gear ratio
are approximately 0.067 and 1.3, while a more realistic range for
the given application is approximately between 0.1 and 0.3. At
low values of 𝑔, the planet bearings become overloaded as the
bearings get smaller and the planet mass increases. At higher
values, the rotational speed of the booster becomes comparable
to the HP spool speed, which would be unnecessarily high.
𝑁B = 𝑁L (𝑔 + 1) + 𝑁H 𝑔 (3 )
Fig. 2 DDBTF Configuration and Station Numbering
Gas turbine-electric hybrid engine concepts envision that
during critical flight phases like take-off or climb, power can be
provided to the gas turbine through an electric motor [9]. In a
concept based on a DDTF or GTF, this electric motor is usually
connected to the LP spool, because the additional power is fed
This placement, however, means that the motor cannot be used
as a starter because it is not connected to the HP spool. Therefore,
two electric machines are required in the engine, one on the LP
and on the HP spool. Furthermore, in a DDTF the electrical
machine on the LP spool has to work with a low rotational speed
if it is directly connected to the LP spool, leading to a heavier
electric machine, because its size is inversely correlated with its
rotational speed for a given power requirement [2]. Alternatively,
the engine could incorporate a heavy gear system to increase the
speed for the electrical machine. Connecting the electrical
machine to the LP spool also requires it to work in a wide speed
range, which is significantly wider than the speed range of the
HP spool.
The DDBTF avoids these problems, by using a single
electrical machine that is connected to the booster spool. The
booster spool has a significantly higher rotational speed than the
LP spool, see Eq. (3), and the relative variation is smaller, see
Eq. (4). In this concept, the starter generator replaces the
accessory gearbox and radial drive and all the engine accessories
are driven electrically. The starter/generator could be a

3 Copyright © 2018 ASME

Samarium Cobalt permanent magnet machine driven from the
front of the booster compressor.
In the DDBTF, a fan brake, which prevents LP spool rotation
and power drain, may be needed to start the engine if starter
energy is limited. Feeding power into the booster spool of a
DDBTF rotates both the LP and HP spools. The power absorbed
by the LP spool has little effect on the start and is "wasted". Use
of a fan brake during starting would feed all the starter power
into the booster and HP spools. The brake has a similar function
as a “propeller brake” in a turboprop, see [10]. The electrical
machine is placed in a low-temperature region, which facilitates
the thermal design. Furthermore, the electrical machine is
located close to the bearing of the booster spool which increases
the stiffness and leads to smaller clearances in the electrical
machine with the associated benefits. Fig. 3 shows a possible
arrangement of the DDBTF configuration with a
starter/generator and a fan brake.
Fan Brake
Gearbox
Fig. 3 Arrangement with Starter/Generator and Fan Brake
A possible extension to the above would be to greatly
increase the power of the motor/generator so that it could be used
as a hybrid engine. If the engine were increased in length, a high
power motor/generator could be driven from the front of the
booster if the engine matching would permit. This could be used
to charge the battery in some phases of flight and in others,
extract power from the battery, reducing the turbine temperature,
fuel consumption, and exhaust emissions. The feasibility of this
concept clearly depends on the effect on the engine of such high
power extraction and input. The advantage of the concept would
be that a hybrid aircraft could be designed with just a single type
of engine and there would be no need for separately mounted
electrically driven fans.
MODELLING
The performance calculations conducted in this paper are
performed with a special version of the performance software
GasTurb 13 which contains the DDBTF configuration. In this
special version the configuration “Geared Turbofan A” of
GasTurb 13 is modified with the above-given equations for
power balance and booster rotational speed in a DDBTF. The
power balance equation contains a mechanical efficiency to
account for mechanical losses. Additionally, a power off-take
from the booster and the LP spool is introduced. A detailed
description of GasTurb 13 can be found in the manual [11]. In
particular, the modelling of variable geometry is described in the
4 Copyright © 2018 ASME
manual, which is applied later in this study. Fig. 2 shows the
station numbering used in this paper, which is according to SAE
AS 755D [12].
BASELINE ENGINE
In order to compare the DDBTF with the DDTF and the
GTF, an engine model for each configuration is created. Each
engine model fulfils the requirements given in Table 1 and Table
2. The “Top of Climb” (TOC) operating point is the aerodynamic
design point while the “Hot Day Take-Off” (TO) is the
mechanical and thermal design point. The fan inlet radius is 1 m
with a hub tip ratio of 0.3. With the information on the fan and
the fan inlet Mach number at the TOC, the engine inlet mass flow
is known and equal for the three engine models. Together with
the prescribed thrust requirement, this defines the specific thrust
which is also the same.
Table 1 Top of Climb, Aerodynamic Design Point
Mach number 0.8
Altitude 10668 m (FL350)
Ambient temperature TISA
Thrust (uninstalled) 28.6 kN (6,430 lbf)
Overall Pressure Ratio 50
Fan Inlet Mach Number 0.68
Table 2 Hot Day Take-Off, Thermal Design Point
Mach number 0
Altitude 0m
Ambient temperature TISA+15 K (+27 °R)
Thrust (uninstalled) 143 kN (32,150 lbf)
Burner Exit Temperature T4 1900 K (3420 °R)
T4 at TOC is chosen so that the T4 -value at TO is achieved. The
required thrust for the TOC operating point is achieved by
adjusting the bypass ratio. This leads to a design bypass ratio of
approximately 10.8. The bypass fan pressure ratio (PR) is
optimized so that the engines achieve a minimum average cruise
fuel consumption in the thrust range 14.3 – 28.6 kN.
The overall pressure ratio of 50 is achieved with different
compression work splits in the three engine models, see Table 3.
The core fan PR is constant for all configurations. The DDTF
has a slow-running booster and consequently small stage PR.
Therefore, the DDTF engine model needs a high HPC PR. The
DDBTF and GTF have fast-running boosters with higher stage
PRs so that the HPC can be relieved through a higher booster PR.
The HPT PR is high in the DDTF due to high HPC PR and high
in the DDBTF because the HPT provides power for the booster.
The resulting high LPT PR in the GTF is uncritical, because of
the high LP spool speed. Unlike in the GTF, in the DDBTF the
gear ratio is important for performance calculations because it
affects the work split between the components. The gear ratio of
the DDBTF engine model was chosen as 0.13. This gear ratio is
feasible, gives sufficiently high booster spool speed, and leads to
a good off-design behavior. It is noteworthy that the compressor
work split of the DDBTF is similar to the GTF, while the turbine
work split is similar to the DDTF.
 Table 3 Design Parameters
Configuration DDTF GTF DDBTF
Bypass Fan PR 1.51
Core Fan PR 1.4
Booster PR 1.648 2.312 2.312
HPC PR 22 16 16
HPT PR 5.407 4.824 5.354
LPT PR 6.690 7.434 6.798

The engine models used in the study should resemble

current engines. However, the models are not validated against
real data. Furthermore, the engines are not specifically designed
for high POT levels. In this way, the extent of required
modifications of high POT is shown, and the results are easier to
understand. In particular, the design surge margins of the
compressors are not adjusted for high POT, and no stability
measures during off-design operation are applied. The design Fig. 4 HPC Operating Line in DDTF
surge margin is chosen so that at a cruise thrust range of 14.3 kN
- 28.6 kN the SM (at constant flow) does not fall below 20 % for
the booster. In a more sophisticated study, a detailed surge
margin stack up would be required, which requires much more
information about the engine and was not possible in this study.
During cruise, handling bleed is undesirable and is therefore not
applied. Idle operation is not considered in this study.
For off-design calculations, scaled component maps are
used. The fan and HPC maps are the same for the three engine
models. The HPC map contains an embedded variable geometry
schedule, which can be deduced from the map shape [13]. For
the booster of the GTF, a transonic compressor map is used, and
for the boosters of the DDTF and DDBTF a subsonic map. The
booster maps are without an embedded schedule, and no
schedule is used in the first part of the study. All booster and
HPC maps are shown below. The turbine maps are not shown Fig. 5 HPC Operating Line in GTF
because their operating points do not change significantly.

RESULTS
Power Offtake During Cruise
In order to understand the impact of high POT levels on the
performance of the engines, the operating lines at cruise
conditions are calculated, starting from TOC thrust down to
almost flight idle. Fig. 4 - Fig. 6 show the HPC operating lines
in the three different configurations for a POT of 0 and 500 kW.
The dots indicate constant thrust steps of 10 % TOC thrust. In
the DDTF and GTF the power is taken off the HP spool, in the
DDBTF it is taken off the booster spool. In all configurations,
the HPC surge margin decreases to different extents. The biggest
changes occur in the GTF. Here the POT represents the biggest
percentage of the HPT power. This is because the GTF has the
Fig. 6 HPC Operating Line in DDBTF
smallest core with the smallest HPC and HPT PR. The HPTs of
the DDTF and the DDBTF are more powerful due to higher When power is taken off the booster spool in a DDBTF, as
design HPC PR and due to additional provision of booster power seen in Fig. 6, the trend is the same but the magnitude is different.
respectively. In all configurations, the surge margin decreases Here, the operating line moves closer to the surge margin but to
more at low power settings (lower HPC PR and corrected mass a smaller extent. This is because the HPT is more powerful, as it
flow). This is because the HPT produces less power and the POT is designed to provide power to the HPC and the booster, and
presents a higher fraction of the HPT power. because the HPT has to provide only a fraction of the additional

5 Copyright © 2018 ASME

power, see Eq. (1). Furthermore, the corrected mass flow Fig. 8 and Fig. 9. However, in a DDBTF with booster spool POT,
changes less. This has the favorable effect that the HPC operates the operating line is hardly affected, see Fig. 10.
in a similar map region with similar efficiencies as when no
power is taken off. Therefore, the engine operates with higher
HPC efficiencies during low power settings and high POTs.
In order to understand this particular behavior of the
DDBTF during booster spool POT, it is instructive to analyze the
behavior of the conventional turbofan during POT from the HP
and LP spool. Fig. 7 shows a low power operating point in the
HPC map for constant thrust and varying overall POT levels with
varying POT shares of the HP and LP spool.

Fig. 8 Booster OL in DDTF

Fig. 7 Effects of LP and HP Spool POT on HPC Operation at

Constant Thrust in DDTF

If the power is taken off the LP spool, then the power

balance of the HP spool is not affected. Consequently, the
operating point of the HPC moves along its stationary operating
line, which is the same as for 0 kW POT. It moves towards higher
PR and corrected mass flow because the gas generator has to
Fig. 9 Booster OL in GTF
work harder to provide additional power for the POT. This is
normal behavior of a single spool gas generator in a DDTF and
GTF engine, see e. g. [14].
If the power is taken off the HP spool, the power balance on
the HP spool changes because the HPT provides power to the
HPC and for POT. The operating point is no longer on the
stationary operating line. This is normal behavior which is also
observed in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5. If the power is taken from both
spools, these two behaviors overlap. This is visible in Fig. 7. In
the DDBTF a similar effect occurs if power is taken off the
booster spool. The power is then effectively provided by both the
LP and HP spool, with a share that can be calculated with Eqs.
(1) and (2). The result is that the operating point deviates only
slightly from the stationary operating line and moves closer to
the surge line. However, this effect is significantly smaller than
if the POT is purely from the HP spool, as in the DDTF and GTF.
Fig. 8 - Fig. 10 show the booster operating lines for the same Fig. 10 Booster OL in DDBTF
cases. If power is taken off the HP spool, then the HPC achieves
It should be mentioned that, for the sake of clarity, no
a smaller PR and reduced corrected mass flow. This throttles the
stability measures like variable stator vanes or bleed off valves
booster, and its operation point moves closer to the surge line.
were used so far. In a real application, the compressor would not
This behaviour can be observed in the DDTF and the GTF, see
be allowed to operate so close to the surge line. Furthermore, the

6 Copyright © 2018 ASME

booster of the DDBTF shows a somewhat flatter operating line
than the DDTF and the GTF. This would be counteracted by
variable geometry in order to regain SM. The effects of variable
geometry are discussed later in the study.
The booster operating line in the DDBTF is again the result
of two opposing trends. The first trend is the same as for HP
spool POT. The second trend is observed when power is taken
off the LP spool. Here, the HPC increases its PR and corrected
mass flow which relieves the booster and moves it away from
the surge line but possibly to a low-efficiency region. These
trends are shown in Fig. 8, which depicts the effects of LP and
HP POT in a conventional turbofan. Depending on the share of
each spool, the surge margin can become smaller or larger than
in the case of no POT. In the present DDBTF configuration, the
power share of the HP and LP spool leads to a booster operating
line which is almost unaffected by the POT.
Fig. 11 shows the booster SM for a low thrust cruise
operating point, when only the design gear ratio is changed.
Depicted is the surge margin for no POT and for 500 kW POT at
constant thrust. The first observation here is that SM decreases
with the design gear ratio. The second observation is that a gear
ratio exists at which the POT has no effect on the booster SM.
For a smaller gear ratio, the SM increases with POT, similar to
LP POT shown in Fig. 8. For a higher gear ratio, the effect is
more similar to HP POT. When a similar study is conducted at
different cruise thrust levels and for the power boost during take-
off, at a very similar gear ratio (0.172 ± 0.004), the power has no
influence on the booster surge margin.
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
50
Booster Surge Margin (%)
0
kW
0k
W consumption increase due to POT between the configurations.
0
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
Gear Ratio
Fig. 11 Gear Ratio Effect on Booster Surge Margin in
DDBTF
The gear ratio at which the impact of power transfer has no
influence on the booster surge margin appears to be relatively
similar for different flight conditions and thrust levels. This
would have to be assessed over all critical points in the flight
envelope for a particular application. But this finding depicts the
importance of the gear ratio on the engine behavior at high POT.
It, therefore, shows another aspect for the selection of the gear
ratio during engine design which is of particular importance for
engines with high shaft power transfer.
Fig. 12 shows the maximum possible POT during cruise in
the DDTF and the DDBTF when the POT level is limited by a
minimum booster and HPC surge margin of 15 %. It can be seen
that the DDBTF can handle very high POT levels at high thrust.
At low thrust levels, the booster of the DDBTF has a small surge
margin regardless of the POT level. This is a result of the flat
operating line which is almost unaffected by POT. The booster
in the DDTF limits the allowable HP spool POT at all thrust
levels while the HPC becomes even more critical at high thrust
levels. The HPC of the DDBTF also limits the allowable POT at
high thrust but at considerably higher levels than in the DDTF.
Again, the shown trends are valid only if no variable geometry
is used.
Fig. 12 Maximum DDTF and DDBTF POT in Cruise
While the main objective of this paper is investigate the
impacts of POT on the operability of the engines, some words
must be said about fuel consumption. POT has a detrimental
effect on the fuel consumption of the engines, independent of the
configuration. However, there are differences of fuel
These differences are mostly caused by different changes of the
components efficiencies when power is taken off, in particular in
compressors as shown in Fig. 4 - Fig. 6 and Fig. 8 - Fig. 10. E. g.
when the compressors operating points move to higher efficiency
regions in the map during an increase of POT, the detrimental
effects of POT on fuel consumption are mitigated slightly.
0.25 0.3
Furthermore, POT from a spool with a higher efficiency turbine
is generally more favorable than if the additional power is
provided by a lower efficiency turbine.
Power Boost During Takeoff
During take-off, one strategy of hybrid engines is to use
electrical power to assist the gas turbine in creating the required
thrust and reduce exhaust emissions. This is used to enable a
smaller gas turbine or lower the working temperatures of the gas
turbine, thereby increasing the lifetime of its components and
reducing NOx. The gas turbine must be able to cope with the
changed power balance. The amount of power that is fed into the
engine might be significantly higher than the amount of POT
during other flight phases. The question arises how much power
can be fed to the engine without threatening its operation and
what effects this has.
7 Copyright © 2018 ASME
 Power can be fed in through the HP spool and the LP spool
in a DDTF and GTF. In this section, the maps of the GTF are not
shown, because the effects are the same as for the DDTF but the
disruption due to power input is even stronger. Fig. 13 shows the
effect of HP and LP spool power input on the booster operating
line of a DDTF during TO. For both cases, the operating line
deviates significantly from the baseline. However, feeding
power in through the LP spool is more critical, because it moves
the booster operating line closer to surge.
This can be explained as follows. The thrust of very high
bypass ratio engines is predominantly generated by the fan. The
fan operating line is unaffected by power transfer and is defined
by the bypass nozzle, which is constant. For a given thrust
requirement, the fan operating point is predetermined so that the
fan and LP spool speed is also roughly defined. Consequently,
the booster corrected spool speed is also defined and the
operating points in the booster map are on the same speed line
for a given thrust, see symbols in Fig. 13. The corrected spool
speed is almost independent of any power transfer. If power is
fed into the HP spool, then the overall pressure ratio increases
and core mass flow increases due to constant corrected mass flow
in the choked HPT nozzle guide vane (𝑊41𝑅𝑆𝑇𝐷 ~ 𝑊41 √𝑇41⁄𝑃41). The
increased core mass flow leads to a larger booster surge margin.
If power is fed into the LP spool, then the core engine is relieved
and has to produce less power at the LPT. This leads to a lower
core pressure ratio, and the core mass flow decreases, which
leads to a smaller booster surge margin.
Fig. 13 Booster OL, HP and LP Power Input in DDTF
For the HPC LP spool power input is not critical because the
operating line does not change, see Fig. 14. However, if power
is fed in through the HP spool, the HPC operating point can move
close to the maximum speed lines, see Fig. 14. This trend is
aggravated with smaller HPCs, for example in a GTF, which
limits the amount of power that can be inserted through the HP
spool. Therefore, power input on the HP spool can be critical for
the HPC in conventional turbofans.
8 Copyright © 2018 ASME
Fig. 14 HPC OL, HP and LP Power Input in DDTF
Fig. 15 and Fig. 16 show the effects of booster spool power
input in the DDBTF. The booster operating line is hardly
affected by the power input. The HPC is also only slightly shifted
towards the choke line, which is beneficial for the engine
stability. The exact position of the operating line with power
input relative to the original operating line is again dependent on
the gear ratio and rotational speed ratio of the input members.
The trends for power input are therefore similar to POT but in
the opposite direction.
Table 4 shows the reduction of burner exit temperature T4
due to power input at constant thrust for the TO operating point.
In all configurations, the power input leads to a lower T4 than for
the reference case without power input given in Table 2.
However, at constant power input the T4 reduction varies
significantly for different configurations and different spools
used for power input. First of all, power input at the HP spool in
the DDTF and GTF leads to the lowest reduction of T4 . The main
reason for this seems to be that the operating points of the core
compressors move to low efficiency regions, see Fig. 13 and Fig.
14, which lowers the core overall compression efficiency
ηC significantly. This is then compensated by a higher T4 .
If the power is fed in through the LP spool in the DDTF and
GTF, T4 can be reduced more. Again this is, at least partially, a
result of overall compression efficiency, which is high due to the
position of the booster and HPC operating points. In the GTF the
trends are similar but stronger. The GTF with LP spool power
input achieves the lowest T4 . In the DDBTF with power input at
the booster spool, the operating points do not change much, see
Fig. 15 and Fig. 16, so that the T4 also falls significantly.
Table 4 𝐓𝟒 Reduction through 2 MW Power Input at TO
Conf. DDTF GTF DDBTF
Power 0 HPS LPS 0 HPS LPS 0 BS
Input 2 MW 2 MW 2 MW 2 MW 2 MW
T4 (K) 1900 1846 1839 1900 1878 1813 1900 1827
ηC 0.8604 0.8360 0.8667 0.8554 0.8178 0.8692 0.8613 0.8627
 spool (𝑛H = 0.91 − 1.1), and a significantly smaller variation
than for the LP spool (𝑛L = 0.77 − 1.02), for the considered
flight conditions. For a given thrust, the spool speed changes
caused by power transfer are minimal when power is transferred
through the booster spool in the DDBTF. For a detailed
examination of the relevant speed range, the whole flight
envelope would have to be considered, including idle operation,
which is outside the scope of this study.
1.1
0 kW
1.05 500 kW out

Relative Spool Speed

1

0.95

Fig. 15 Booster OL, Booster Spool Power Input in DDBTF 0.9

0.85

0.8

0.75
14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Net Thrust (kN)
Fig. 17 Speed Range, Cruise

1.1
0 kW
1.05 2 MW in
Relative Spool Speed

0.95

0.9
Fig. 16 HPC OL, Booster Spool Power Input in DDBTF
0.85

POT Speed Range 0.8

Besides the power level, the rotational speed at which the
0.75
power is transferred is important for the selection of the electrical 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150
machine. High variations in rotational speed are difficult to Net Thrust (kN)

handle. Fig. 17 and Fig. 18 show the variation of relative spool
speeds with thrust for cruise and TO, respectively. These pictures
show only the spool speeds of the spools which are connected to
the electrical machine, for the DDTF and DDBTF. The GTF
shows very similar trends as the DDTF and is not shown. The
solid black lines indicate the trends when no power is transferred.
The dashed blue lines in Fig. 17 indicate the trend when 500 kW
are taken off the respective spool. The dash-dotted red lines
indicate power input of 2 MW at the respective spool. The
booster spool of the DDBTF has a higher variation of spool
speed than the HP spool of the DDTF but a smaller variation than
the LP spool of the DDTF, for both flight conditions. This is
because the booster speed is a function of HP and LP spool speed
in the DDBTF, see Eq. (3). While the variation at one flight
condition is higher than for the HP spool in a DDTF, the
differences between cruise and TO are smaller. This leads to
similar overall variations (𝑛B = 0.85 − 1.04) as for the HP
Fig. 18 Speed Range, SLS
Variable Geometry
The study so far has been conducted without variable
geometry in the booster. In Fig. 8 - Fig. 10 it is visible that the
booster has insufficient surge margin during low power
operation and high POT. When POT is increased, the variable
guide vanes need to be closed to regain booster SM. Fig. 19
shows the schedules of the booster VGVs in order to maintain a
booster SM of 20 % during 500 kW POT in cruise. The DDBTF
does not require a variation, because the booster operating line is
not affected by POT and the reference operating line is designed
with sufficient SM, see Fig. 10 which also shows operating
points with lower thrust. At lower power levels the VGVs would
have to be closed in order to counteract the flat booster operating
line in the DDBTF. However, the amount of POT would not
affect the VGV schedule significantly.

9 Copyright © 2018 ASME

 1 to enable very high power transfers to or from a turbofan engine.
0
DDBTF
Variable Geometry Setting (deg)
-1
-2
-3
-4
-5
-6
-7
-8
-9
14 16 18 20 22 24
Net Thrust (kN)
Fig. 19 VGV Settings for Booster at 500 kW POT
CONCLUSION
The results confirm previous findings that high power
offtake from the HP spool in conventional engine configurations
is problematic due to decreased HPC and booster surge margin.
The problems are more severe for engines with a low-power
HPT, e. g. the GTF. In a DDBTF, when power is taken off the
booster spool, the HPC surge margin decreases as well, but the
detrimental effects on the HPC are significantly smaller than in
comparable conventional engines. The effects of POT on the
booster depend on the gear ratio, but with practical gear ratios,
the booster surge margin is only slightly affected by POT. When
power is fed into the engine, these trends reverse. While surge
margins increase, the compressors work closer to choke, which
leads to lower compressor efficiencies. Here the DDBTF has
again advantages due to less affected compressor operating lines,
leading to higher core compressor efficiencies.
The results also confirm that LP spool power offtake
alleviates the problems for the DDTF and GTF, but leads to a
loss of booster surge margin during power input. Contrary to this,
the booster of the DDBTF does not show significant surge
margin changes during power transfer. Additionally, in the
DDBTF, the rotational speed of the electrical machine is higher
and the speed variation is smaller when compared to the LP spool
power transfer, which is beneficial for the electrical machine.
Power transfer also has the least effect on the rotational speed in
the DDBTF. The behavior of the DDBTF depends to a very high
degree on the choice of the gear ratio, which must be chosen
carefully to achieve the optimum engine performance.
Overall, this study shows that the DDBTF configuration is
particularly suited for applications where a high amount of
power is taken off or fed into the gas turbine. The power transfer
through the booster spool of the DDBTF unsettles the engine far
less than in conventional configurations, where the power is
transferred only at one spool. The concept offers significant
advantages over both the HP and the LP power transfer in
conventional turbofans while exhibiting only minor
disadvantages. The DDBTF concept, thereby, offers a new way
This could be the best solution for a hybrid aircraft, utilizing a
conventional arrangement of turbofan engines combined with
battery power.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to express their gratitude to GasTurb
GmbH for creating a special version of the performance software
GasTurb 13 which includes the DDBTF configuration.
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