Gas Turbine Fuel Control Systems

Roy Langton
Parker Aerospace, Irvine, CA, USA

1 Introduction 1 50 years or so.
2 Gas Turbine Engine Overview 1 Finally, a brief coverage of the issues associated with en-
3 Gas Turbine Fuel Control Systems 2
4 Combustion 10
5 Response and Stability 10
6 Engine Diagnostics 12
References 12
1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter describes the technical aspects of gas turbine
fuel system functional performance characteristics and im-
plementation technologies as they apply to commercial and
military aircraft applications.
To set the stage for the fuel control system discussion, the
first of the following sections is an overview of the propul-
sion gas turbine engine covering the fundamentals of op-
eration and the various design concepts that are in aircraft
service today including jet, propeller, and shaft propulsion
types.
The later sections describe the fuel control system tasks
and the design approaches adopted in order to address the op-
erational challenges that are fundamental to fixed and rotary
wing aircraft propulsion applications.
Implementation of the various control and fuel manage-
ment technologies are presented, showing how the technol-
ogy of aircraft fuel control systems has evolved over the past
gine diagnostics and trend monitoring is included for com-
pleteness.
2 GAS TURBINE ENGINE OVERVIEW
Operation of the gas turbine engine is based on the basic con-
cept illustrated in Figure 1. This compressor–turbine “boot-
strap” arrangement becomes self-sustaining above a certain
rotational speed. As additional fuel is added, speed increases
and excess “gas horsepower” is generated. In some applica-
tions, gas generators with two concentric shafts (see diagram
(b) in the figure) are used. The low pressure (LP) compres-
sor/turbine can now run at a slower, more optimal speed than
the high pressure (HP) compressor/turbine.
In either case, the gas horsepower delivered by the gas
generator can be used in various engine design arrangements
for the production of shaft power or direct thrust, for example:
r use of a jet pipe and nozzle to provide direct thrust as in
a turbojet engine;
r use of a separate power turbine to provide shaft horse-
power for either
– a propeller as in a turboprop engine or
– a helicopter rotor transmission as in a turboshaft
engine;
r the power turbine arrangement is also used in the turbofan
engine in which the power turbine shaft drives a large fan,
which generates the majority of the engine’s thrust.

There are some exceptions to the engine concepts sum-

marized above. The Rolls Royce gas turbines for large

Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, Online © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article was published in the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae467
 2 Aircraft Sub-Systems
Combustor
Compressor Turbine
Air Gas
horsepower
High-energy
Gas stream
Fuel
(a) Single-shaft gas generator
Gas
Air
horsepower
Fuel
(b) Two shaft gas generator
Figure 1. Gas turbine basics: the gas generator.
commercial transport aircraft, for example, have a three-shaft
design arrangement in which an intermediate pressure (IP)
spool with its own compressor and turbine operates concen-
trically between the LP and HP spools.
In a new Pratt and Whitney engine design, the LP turbine
is connected to the fan via a high-power reduction gear. This
allows the fan to rotate closer to optimum speed resulting in
significant fuel burn improvements.
In small engine applications particularly associated with
auxiliary power units (APUs), the gas generator shaft may be
connected directly via a reduction gearbox to the air compres-
sor and electrical generator loads and the unit controlled to
operate at a constant speed. With this arrangement, changes
in power demand result in changes in turbine inlet tempera-
ture. Some early turboprop designs adopted the single-shaft
approach in which the propeller constant speed unit (CSU)
controls the engine speed; however, the separate (or free)
power turbine arrangement is preferred today.
3 GAS TURBINE FUEL CONTROL
SYSTEMS
3.1 Fuel control system responsibilities
The engine fuel control system is typically involved in a num-
ber of control functions not only in the delivery of fuel to
the engine but also in the management of airflow through
the compressor(s) depending upon the design specifics of
Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, Online © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article was published in the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae467
the engine. In military aircraft, thrust augmentation via af-
terburning (reheat) is often involved. Here, additional fuel is
burned in the jet pipe to increase the exhaust gas velocity,
which is recovered as thrust. The exhaust nozzle area must
then be controlled to maintain appropriate nozzle pressure,
since this determines the compressor operating point. In some
advanced engines, thrust vectoring is provided by modulat-
ing the direction of the exhaust plume to provide pitch and/or
rolling moments to the airframe directly to improve aircraft
handling performance.
Figure 2 is a top-level schematic showing the various con-
trol actions that may be provided by the fuel control system
for a gas turbine in a direct thrust application. Compressor
performance may be optimized by the provision of inlet guide
vanes (IGVs) and/or variable stator vanes (VSVs), which can
be positioned as a function of the prevailing engine operat-
ing condition in order to improve compressor surge margins.
Bleed valves (BVs) are also frequently used to improve the
compressor surge margin during acceleration from one power
setting to another. It is typical for the fuel control to utilize
high-pressure fuel as the actuation medium. This is often re-
ferred to as “fuel-draulics.” Exhaust nozzle actuators may
also be powered by high-pressure fuel.
In order to execute the various control tasks, the fuel con-
trol system requires inputs from the throttle, flight condition
information such as altitude, total air temperature, and total
air pressure, and various engine parameters such as rotational
speeds, internal pressures, and temperatures.
Inlet airflow and shockwave control are often an addi-
tional requirement in supersonic aircraft applications; how-
ever, this topic is considered to be outside the scope of this
chapter.
Secondary functions of the fuel control system include
cooling of the engine lubricating oil and, in some applica-
tions, providing a source of high-pressure fuel to the aircraft
fuel system for operation of fuel feed and transfer ejector
pumps (see Langton et al., 2009).
The following section discusses the challenges associated
with providing safe and appropriate control of fuel flow for
gas turbine engines in aircraft applications.
3.2 The control problem
The main control problem associated with gas turbine en-
gines in aircraft applications is related to the operational en-
vironment, specifically, the variation in air inlet conditions
brought about by the effects of altitude, temperature, and air-
speed. In order to manage this issue, engine performance is
usually expressed in terms of “corrected” parameters. Param-
eters such as rotational speed and fuel flow can be expressed
 Gas Turbine Fuel Control Systems 3

Figure 2. Gas turbine fuel control system tasks.

as corrected variables that compensate for variations in en- Using these corrected parameters, the variations in the en-
gine inlet pressure and temperature as indicated in the graph gine steady running line and other critical performance fea-
of Figure 3. tures come together as essentially single curves as shown in
The term “θ” is the ratio of actual temperature and the the graph of Figure 3. The actual values of engine speed, fuel
nominal sea-level standard condition in absolute units, that flow, as well as other operational features such as surge or
is, θ = T/520 ◦ R. flame-out boundaries are readily obtained by inserting the
“δ” is the ratio of actual atmospheric pressure and the sea- values of ␪ and ␦ for the actual operating condition being
level standard of 14.7 psia. considered.
From the figure, it can be seen, therefore, that in order to
change engine power settings and avoid crossing the critical
boundaries associated with compressor performance (accel-
eration limiting) or combustor flame-out (deceleration limit-
WF
Corrected
ing), fuel flow must be controlled as a function of ␪ and ␦ for
δ θ
fuel flow the prevailing operating condition.
Engine An alternative and popular control mode for fuel flow
Compressor surge steady running
boundary line scheduling is to use the ratio wF /Pc as the primary control
parameter; where wF is engine fuel flow and Pc is compressor
delivery pressure (the notation P3 is also sometimes used for
the same parameter). The benefit of using this ratio is that it
Flame-out has a close correspondence to fuel/air ratio. It is also respon-
boundary sive to engine performance, whereas engine inlet pressure P1
used in the definition of δ is not.
Corrected speed
N There are many other aspects of gas turbine engine control
θ issues that are also managed through the control of fuel flow
Figure 3. Engine performance showing surge and flame-out bound- to the engine. The following are typical of today’s aircraft
aries. gas turbine engines.

Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, Online © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article was published in the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae467
 4 Aircraft Sub-Systems

Governor gain
Fuel flow Maximum speed + wF
governor droop line NSET KG PC Gov
Fuel control −
acceleration limit wF
N
PC Accel
Compressor surge wF
B Engine
Idle speed boundary PC Select
steady running
governor droop T1 low
line
line T1 N
Fuel control Acceleration limit
deceleration limit
A wF wF
Flame-out PC PC
Select
boundary T1 wF
high
Gas generator N
speed Deceleration limit wF
Idle Maximum PC Decel
speed speed PC

Figure 4. Speed governor operation. Figure 5. Fuel control block diagram showing governing and lim-
iting logic.

3.2.1 Mechanical speed governing and overspeed

protection
Engine shaft speed is the conventional method for control-
ling the power output of the gas generator. This is accom-
plished via a speed governor that operates in conjunction with
an acceleration- and deceleration-limiting system. The func-
tional behavior of the typical speed governor is illustrated in
Figure 4.
Referring to the figure, assume that the engine is operating
initially at idle speed (point A) on the engine steady running
line. Consider now a sudden change in throttle setting from
idle to maximum. As fuel is increased, causing the engine to
accelerate, the fuel control must limit the amount of overfu-
eling to prevent compressor surge.
As the engine accelerates, the fuel flow to the engine is
scheduled to follow the acceleration limit until it reaches
the maximum speed governor droop line. From this point,
any further increase in speed is now accompanied by a cor-
responding reduction in fuel flow until the engine steady
running line is reached at point B. Similarly, during a de-
celeration from maximum to idle, fuel flow is maintained
above the flame-out boundary by the fuel control’s decel-
eration limit. Upon reaching the idle speed droop line, the
governor takes over bringing the engine back to point A.
Figure 5 shows a block diagram of a governing and
acceleration/deceleration-limiting scheme that may be used
to accomplish the engine response similar to that shown in
the previous figure. The control parameter used in this ex-
ample is wF /PC . As shown, acceleration and deceleration
limits in wF /PC terms are computed as a function of engine
speed and inlet temperature. The speed governor command is
prevented from exceeding the acceleration and deceleration
limits by the SELECT HIGH and SELECT LOW logic.
In the example shown, the governor gain, KG , together
with the engine response in terms of speed increase per unit
fuel flow, determines the slope of the governor droop line and
while it is shown as a constant in the control block diagram,
here it may be modified as a function of engine speed to
ensure good stability over the operating power range of the
engine.
The control logic output ratio wF /PC is converted to a
fuel flow command by multiplying by the prevailing value of
compressor discharge pressure PC .
In addition to speed governing as a control requirement,
some independent means of overspeed protection is typically
provided in order to ensure that a catastrophic mechanical
failure due to overspeed cannot occur.
In the above discussion, the problem of acceleration fuel
flow limiting in order to avoid compressor surge was ad-
dressed by generating an acceleration schedule from the pre-
vailing operating conditions and using this schedule to limit
the amount of overfueling.
One significant problem with this approach occurs during
repeated transients, the worst case being the “hot re-slam” or
“bodie” maneuver. This means cycling the throttle from max-
imum power to idle and back to maximum power very quickly
after a long period at maximum power. Not surprisingly, the
amount of overfueling required to cause a compressor surge
during the hot re-slam acceleration phase can be significantly
different from what would be required had the engine spent
a long period at low power before the sudden acceleration.
An alternative acceleration control mode that has been
adopted in some aircraft propulsion applications is described
as the “N-dot” acceleration technique. Here, the actual rate-
of-change of shaft speed is controlled directly as a function
of the engine operating condition. One such N-dot approach

Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, Online © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article was published in the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae467
 Gas Turbine Fuel Control Systems 5

+ bofan engines, fan speed is used as an alternative approach.

N SET G(s)
− Both these techniques are, nevertheless, only close approxi-
Controlled mations to the actual thrust being delivered at any given flight
N-dot limit
Compute condition.
N-dot Select Rate-limited Shaft power can be readily obtained from torque and speed
acceleration low speed command
limit sensing and in free power turbine engines; the speed of the
gas generator high-pressure spool is commonly used as a
Compute measure of the power delivered to the output load.
N-dot Select 1 +
KG In aircraft applications, gas turbines spend most of their
deceleration high s −
limit Integrator time operating close to their mechanical and thermal limits.
This is by design in order to ensure that high cycle temper-
T1 PC N wF atures and hence high operational efficiency is maintained
during most phases of the flight. During the climb to altitude,
Engine
changes in air-inlet conditions can require constant throttle
adjustments to ensure that operational turbine gas tempera-
Figure 6. N-dot acceleration control example. ture limits are not exceeded. The modern fuel control system
provides automatic thrust or power management, allowing
the pilot to select maximum continuous and maximum climb
is referred to as the “slave datum” technique, which is illus-
or cruise power settings, allowing the fuel control system to
trated in Figure 6. Here, a “slave” engine speed command
modulate the throttle settings automatically, thus minimizing
is generated, which is rate-limited as a function of the en-
pilot workload.
gine’s operating situation (power level and flight condition).
The amount of overfueling (or underfueling) is thereby de-
termined as engine speed response is constrained to follow 3.2.4 Torque sharing in turboshaft applications
the slave command.
In many turboshaft (helicopter) propulsion applications, two
In steady state, the outer speed governing control loop is
and sometimes three engines operate together to provide shaft
in control and, since there is an integrator in the loop, there
power to the rotor transmission system. In such applications,
will be no speed error (droop). This type of speed governor is
it is important to ensure that the power delivered by each of
called an “isochronous” governor. Some dynamic compen-
the gas generators is essentially the same, otherwise one of
sation may be required (as indicated by the G(s) block) to
the engines could routinely be carrying most of the load in
ensure good speed control stability.
many operational situations to the detriment its operational
life. Torque sharing is usually accomplished by measuring
3.2.2 Turbine gas temperature limiting power turbine torque of each engine and using the difference
to trim the gas generator governor setting of each gas gen-
To prevent hot section temperature exceedance during all op- erator to bring them into balance. For stability reasons, the
erational conditions including starting and acceleration, tur- torque-sharing system uses an essentially steady state (slow
bine gas temperature limiting is unusually provided by the response) trimming action to avoid dynamic coupling with
fuel control system. The intent is to limit the high pressure the primary speed governing system.
turbine inlet temperature (TIT); however, this is difficult to
measure directly and, therefore, measurement is usually made
using thermocouples at some lower temperature stage, for ex- 3.2.5 Engine synchronization
ample, LP turbine inlet or exhaust gas temperature (EGT). In multiengine applications, speed synchronization is
In some advanced military engine applications, optical py- provided to ensure that during cruise operation each engine
rometer technology is employed to measure turbine blade operates at the same rotational speed in order to avoid the an-
temperature directly from the infrared radiation emitted by noying “beat frequency” noise that can occur when small dif-
the turbine blades. ferences in engine rotational speed are present. This function
is selectable by the pilot and operates by cross-connecting en-
gine speed information between each of fuel control systems
3.2.3 Thrust or power management
so that appropriate trimming action can be made.
Engine pressure ratio (EPR) is perhaps the most common In propjet applications, both speed and phase synchroniza-
method used to measure and control thrust. In some large tur- tion is sometimes employed. This control feature ensures that

Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, Online © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article was published in the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae467
 6 Aircraft Sub-Systems
the angular position of each propeller is maintained at some
predetermined constant relationship that results in minimum
cabin noise. This feature is again achieved by trimming the
fuel flow or governor settings of the fuel control systems in-
volved.
3.3 Fuel control system implementation
3.3.1 Review of fuel control technologies
The implementation of gas turbine engine fuel control sys-
tems has changed dramatically over the past half century.
Early control designs used mechanical interconnections
and mechanisms to provide the engine fuel control function
because of the criticality of the function itself. Early attempts
during the 1950s to use the obvious advantages of electronics
to provide some of the more complex fuel control and man-
agement functions were fraught with reliability problems due
to the inability of electronic components of the day (such as
thermionic valves/vacuum tubes) to withstand the hostile en-
vironment involved.
This temporary diversion brought with it some exceptional
hydromechanical technologies including “fluidics” that were
envisioned at the time as the answer to the environmental
reliability problems of electronic controls.
Hydromechanical control technology remained the pri-
mary means of control mode computation through the 1970s
with the development of highly complex devices that included
flyweight mechanisms, nut-cracker servomechanisms, three-
dimensional cams, pressure-ratio sensors, multiplying mech-
anisms, and so on. These mechanisms used high-pressure fuel
as the motive source. Figure 7 shows a typical example of this
approach, which, despite its complexity, was able to demon-
3-D cam
Flyweight
speed transducer
. . Speed
servo
Throttle
N lever
Priority select
linkage
Speed governor
command
PC
Multiplication mechanism
Figure 7. Typical hydromechanical computation mechanism.
Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, Online © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article was published in the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae467
strate extremely reliable performance in the field. As shown,
the three-dimensional cam can also be used to generate a VSV
position schedule as a function of speed and inlet temperature
should this be required.
With the advent of the transistor and its miniaturization
leading to very large scale integration (VLSI) technology
and eventually single-chip microprocessors, a revolution in
the involvement of electronics in engine controls as well as
throughout the aerospace industry began that continues to
this day.
The ultimate accomplishment was the introduction of the
full authority digital electronic control (FADEC), which is the
equivalent of “fly-by-wire” in aircraft flight control systems.
In the FADEC-based control, the computations provided by
all of the complex mechanisms, three-dimensional cams, and
so on, can be implemented in software. Also, with this pow-
erful new approach, there is almost no limit to the complexity
of the control algorithms that can be implemented.
Today, almost all of modern gas turbine propulsion sys-
tems employ FADECs for the fuel control computation func-
tion, however, to give some perspective to this commentary;
Figure 8 shows some of the major technology milestones
regarding the application of electronics in engine and fuel
control systems.
3.3.2 FADEC architectures
The first FADEC-controlled engine in commercial service
was the Pratt & Whitney PW2037, which entered service
in the early 1980s on the Boeing 757 aircraft. This FADEC
design employed a dual-channel architecture in a “master-
standby” arrangement. A major objective for this first-
generation FADEC was to meet or better the reliability of
Stator vane servo-actuator
Inlet temperature
sensor
Cam outputs for acceleration,
deceleration and speed governing
wF
Selected ratio
PC
Fuel flow command
X to the fuel metering unit
 Gas Turbine Fuel Control Systems 7

Dual channel architecture

Channel 1 S
Sensor e
l
set e
c
Channel 2 t

Dual-dual channel architecture Channel 1

COM
S
MON e
Sensor l
set e
COM c
Figure 8. History of engine controls technology. t
MON

the current hydromechanical controls, particularly with re-
gard to the in-flight engine shutdown rate, which at that
time was of the order of two engine shutdowns per million
flight hours. The dual-channel system fault coverage even
with extensive built-in-test and fault accommodation soft-
ware cannot be improved beyond about 95%, which, there-
fore, presented some significant risk to the success of this
new technology. In an effort to provide better fault coverage
with this architecture, the standby channel used a software
implementation that was dissimilar to that of the primary
channel.
As the cost of microelectronics reduced over time, the
FADEC architectures moved to the “dual–dual” arrangement,
which continues to be the architecture preferred today. The
reliability and engine shutdown rates achieved by today’s
engines with FADEC controls have proven to be excellent as
is demonstrated by the success of the ETOPS certification of
most twin-engine transports in service today. Figure 9 shows
the dual-channel and dual–dual architecture concepts in a
simplified schematic form.
Each of the channels of the dual–dual architecture has
two microprocessors: a command (COM) microprocessor
and a monitor (MON) microprocessor. Each microproces-
sor executes identical software based on inputs from both
sensor sets. A bit-for-bit comparison between each micro-
processor is done to verify the health of the channel. If a
difference is detected in the primary control channel, the
system automatically switches over to the standby channel.
This approach significantly improves the functional integrity
and fault coverage of the system relative to the dual-channel
approach.
3.3.3 FADEC installation
Even with modern, solid-state, microelectronics the instal-
lation of FADEC controls on aircraft gas turbine engines is
Channel 2
Figure 9. Dual-channel and dual–dual architecture concepts.
extremely challenging because of the hostile environment in-
volved.
The primary task of the FADEC structural design is, there-
fore, to maintain as benign an environment as possible for the
internal electronics in order to provide operational reliabil-
ity, functional integrity, and safety. The following is a list of
installation challenges and design solutions that have been
adopted.
Temperature In commercial turbofan engine applications,
the FADEC is usually mounted on the fan casing in which
environmental temperatures are limited to between −40
and +250 ◦ F. During the cruise phase that represents more
than 90% of operational life, the temperature environment
is between 0 and +100 ◦ F, which is quite benign for elec-
tronic equipment.
Since military engines do not utilize the large fans typical
of the commercial turbofan, their FADECs are typically
mounted on the core section of the engine but require
fuel cooling to keep operating temperatures at reasonable
levels.
Vibration To avoid any degradation in reliability due to
vibration, FADECs are usually mounted on vibration
isolators, which provide excellent vibration attenuation
above about 100 Hz. Care must be taken with the in-
stallation design to prevent “short-circuiting” the isola-
tors through rigid pipe connectors (for internal pressure
sensors) or stiff wiring harnesses.
Lightning and High Incidence Radiated Frequencies
Lightning events can induce large current transients in
metal structures and wiring harnesses. Similarly high
incidence radiated frequencies (HIRF) can couple energy
into wiring harnesses, thereby accessing the electronic

Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, Online © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article was published in the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae467
 8 Aircraft Sub-Systems
equipment via their connectors. The FADEC environ-
ment is particularly challenging since in today’s modern
composite material engine nacelles there is no aluminum
fuselage to provide some inherent protection. FADEC
harnesses must be overbraded, with the overbrade care-
fully bonded to the connector backshells at each end.
The FADEC enclosure must also be fabricated so that
flange interfaces are designed with good surface finishes
and tight bolt spacing to prevent access from very high-
frequency EMI. The enclosure must be bonded to the en-
gine case, taking care not to compromise the vibration
isolators.
Structural Integrity The FADEC must meet structural in-
tegrity standards of engine-mounted equipment, which in-
cludes explosion-proof testing for electronic equipment.
Here, the structural integrity must be maintained after an
internal explosion to ensure that its effects do not prop-
agate from the explosion source. If core-mounted, the
FADEC design must demonstrate compliance with the
standard flame test by withstanding specified exposure
time and flame temperature requirements.
3.3.4 Fuel pumping and metering systems
Having determined the fuel flow required to support a partic-
ular situation, we must now address how fuel is metered to
Fuel flow
Increasing pump
delivery pressure
Engine start flow
requirement
Engine (pump drive) speed
Figure 10. Typical high-pressure gear pump performance.
Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, Online © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article was published in the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae467
the combustion chamber. When we consider that compressor
pressure ratios can be higher than 30 : 1 in some advanced
compressor designs, it becomes clear that the fuel pressure
required to provide both the flow and effective fuel nozzle
spray performance for combustion may be well in excess of
1000 psi above the prevailing inlet total pressure.
For this reason, positive displacement high-pressure fuel
pumps are usually employed. The most popular pump design
for the past several decades has been the gear pump, primarily
due to its ability to tolerate high levels of fuel contaminants,
which had proved to be a major reliability problem for early
variable displacement piston pump designs.
The fundamental problem with the gear pump–based fuel
metering system is illustrated by the pump performance graph
of Figure 10. As shown, the gear pump delivers flow in pro-
portion to the pump’s drive speed, which comes from the
engine HP shaft through a reduction gearbox.
As delivery pressure increases, leakage across the gear
faces results in a reduced flow for any given speed; however,
the basic flow/speed slope remains essentially the same. If
we superimpose typical engine performance curves onto the
pump performance graph, we can see that the engine start
flow requirement determines the pump size. Excess flow at
the higher engine speeds must be spilled back to the pump
inlet. Spill flow is a major generator of heat and is very high
at the altitude cruise condition.
Max
Seal-level
engine running line
Max
Cruise altitude
engine running line
100%

Today, a number of new, rugged, variable displacement
high-pressure fuel pump concepts are being evaluated in
an attempt to eliminate this power loss and heat dissipation
problem.
Fuel pumping and metering devices typical of today’s gear
pump-based designs are as shown in the overall fuel system
schematic of Figure 11.
As shown, the pumping system design comprises a cen-
trifugal backing pump that provides fuel to the gear stage after
the fuel passes through a fuel oil cooler heat exchanger and
high-pressure filter. This filter typically has a bypass valve
and an impending bypass indicator or delta-P switch, which
may be monitored by the FADEC. This is not shown in the
figure for clarity.
The high-pressure gear pump has an integral relief
valve (not shown) to prevent overpressurization of the fuel-
metering unit (FMU).
The FMU meters the correct amount of fuel to the engine,
spilling the excess flow back to the inlet of the fuel oil cooler.
The FMU also provides a high-pressure fuel source for any
servo-actuators required by the system. Metered fuel passes
through a mass flowmeter and a high-pressure filter on its way
to the fuel manifold and combustion nozzles. After engine
shutdown, the FMU allows the fuel manifold to drain into
an ecology tank where it is transferred to the backing pump
inlet following engine re-start using an interstage pressure
fed ejector pump.
In the example shown, a FADEC provides fuel flow com-
mand and fuel cutoff signals to the FMU. The VSV actuator
Figure 11. Fuel system overview.
Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, Online © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article was published in the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae467
Gas Turbine Fuel Control Systems 9
is also controlled by the FADEC. The flowmeter is used to
provide fuel flow information to the avionics and flight deck
and is typically not used in the engine fuel control function. In
the example shown, the flowmeter interfaces with the FADEC
and transmits fuel flow information to the aircraft via a digital
data bus.
A more detailed schematic of a typical FMU is shown in
Figure 12.
Referring to the figure, high-pressure fuel first passes
through a wash-flow filter, which provides clean high-
pressure fuel to any servo-actuators in the control system.
The metering valve shown is a simple spool valve con-
trolled by an electro-hydraulic servo valve (EHSV), which
uses high-pressure fuel as its pressure source. An LVDT
provides metering valve position information back to the
FADEC.
The pressure drop across the metering valve is held con-
stant by a pressure-drop regulator, which spills excess flow
back to the gear pump inlet (via the fuel oil cooler).
The output from the metering valve passes through a shut-
off and pressurizing valve, which remains closed during start-
ing until a certain minimum fuel pressure has built up. Dur-
ing normal operation, this valve remains fully open. If the
throttles are closed to the fuel cutoff position, the fuel cut-
off solenoid is energized selecting high-pressure fuel to the
right side of the pressurizing valve forcing it to close and
shutting off fuel to the engine. The manifold drain valve can
now open allowing the combustor manifold to drain into the
ecology tank.
 10 Aircraft Sub-Systems

Figure 12. Fuel metering unit schematic.

The overspeed trip system may use the same hydro-

mechanical equipment; however, any sensing or electrical Pressure
drop
signaling must be totally independent for functional integrity
reasons.

4 COMBUSTION
Main
Metered fuel flow is fed to one or more fuel manifolds, which characteristic
Start / main
are connected to as many as 20–30 nozzles inside the com- switch-over
bustor. Start characteristic
The design and implementation of the combustor/nozzle
arrangement is highly specialized and beyond the scope of Fuel flow
this chapter. Sophisticated design tools are used, including Figure 13. Fuel nozzle characteristics.
computer fluid dynamics (CFD) to study airflow character-
istics, nozzle spray patterns, fuel droplet sizes, and so on, emission requirements that become more demanding with
over the complete engine operating range to ensure optimum each new generation of engine.
mixing of fuel and air. The goal is to achieve complete com- An igniter system is used to light off the engine during
bustion without hot spots that can lead to the generation of starting. The igniters are also selected when flying through
oxides of nitrogen. bad weather where there is a possibility of a flame-out occur-
To accommodate the wide fuel flow range from starting to ring.
maximum power, nozzles typically have two outlets: a starter
outlet and a main outlet. Figure 13 shows the start/main flow
characteristics indicating how flow is switched from start to 5 RESPONSE AND STABILITY
main as a predetermined nozzle pressure drop is met.
The technology associated with combustor/nozzle designs When in steady-state operation, the aircraft gas turbine is
continues to escalate in order to address the stringent engine controlled by a speed governor, which is a closed loop control

Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, Online © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article was published in the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae467
 Gas Turbine Fuel Control Systems 11

Speed Let us now construct a simple block diagram of the com-

Maximum
Sensitivity
at full power
Sensitivity
Idle at idle
Engine steady
running line
Fuel
flow
Figure 14. Gas turbine speed/fuel flow sensitivity.
system. We are now going to discuss some of the engine
and control features that can have a significant effect on the
response and stability of the speed governor.
First, let us consider the engine. The sensitivity of the
engine, in terms of speed response, to a change of fuel flow
is illustrated by the graph in Figure 14.
As shown in the figure, engine speed is more sensitive to
fuel flow changes at idle speed than at maximum speed. The
slope of the line at any given operating point is called the
engine gain, KE .
Consider now the response of compressor discharge pres-
sure PC to a sudden change in engine fuel flow. There
are two components to the response: a fast path response
due to the change in the net mass flow into the combus-
tor and a slow path response caused by the subsequent
change in engine speed as it moves to a new steady-state
condition.
plete speed governing system using the wF /PC control mode
discussed in Section 3.
The diagram is shown in Figure 15. Only the speed govern-
ing function of the control system is shown; the acceleration
and deceleration limiting system has been omitted for clarity.
In this governor concept, compressor discharge pressure
is fed back to the fuel control and multiplied by the output
of the speed governor to generate the engine fuel flow. A
nice feature of this control mode is that the PC multiplier
effectively reduces the governor loop gain when PC is low
and engine sensitivity to fuel flow is high while increasing
the gain at high-power settings when PC is high and engine
sensitivity to fuel flow is low.
There is a problem, however, in the fact that the PC feed-
back is positive (i.e., fuel flow is increased as PC is increased),
which is dynamically destabilizing.
A dynamic analysis of the speed governor control system
is therefore necessary to ensure that the system behavior is
not oscillatory. This can be accomplished using small pertur-
bation techniques, whereby the engine gains and the fast and
slow PC derivatives are used to establish stability margins for
a number of operating points over the full power range (see
Langton, 2006 for a simple example of this process). More
complete full range, nonlinear analyses can be done using
computer modeling techniques.
Similar dynamic analyses are required for all of the closed-
loop functions including, for example, temperature limiting
as well as torque sharing and limiting.
A particularly challenging dynamic response problem is
that associated with helicopter rotor speed governing. Here,
the very large inertia of the rotor and transmission reflected at
the power turbine shaft results in very low-frequency, lightly
damped modes of oscillation that can interact unfavorably
with the rotor speed governing system.

Governor set speed

PC feedback

wF
PC PC
+ KG Engine
− N
Governor gain

Speed feedback
Fuel flow w F
Engine speed governor

Figure 15. Speed governor with PC compensation.

Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, Online © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article was published in the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae467
 12 Aircraft Sub-Systems
6 ENGINE DIAGNOSTICS
It is important to be able to monitor the performance of gas
turbines in service in order to take maintenance actions in
a timely manner and at a convenient location. This can be
challenging for airlines that fly all over the world. The cost of
having an engine failure thousands of miles from a convenient
maintenance base is prohibitive, since it means ferrying a
spare engine and maintenance crew to replace the engine on
site.
Many airlines, therefore, do performance trend monitor-
ing routinely. Information from dedicated sensors as well as
from transducers used in the fuel control system can be mon-
itored and “snapshots” taken at specific phases of a flight
(e.g., takeoff, climb, and cruise). This information is stored
in avionics units and transmitted automatically via the air-
craft communication and reporting system (ACARS) to the
maintenance base of the airline.
Trend monitoring is difficult because a sensor’s error band
is typically greater than the trend being sought, and there-
fore complex mathematical techniques are used that elimi-
nate random errors leaving the trend information from which
maintenance decisions can be made.
In military applications, there is a major shift in
maintenance philosophy taking place from “scheduled
Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, Online © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article was published in the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae467
maintenance” to “on-condition maintenance” in an effort to
reduce logistics and support costs. As a result, prognostic
techniques are being developed to predict remaining useful
life (RUL) for all major aircraft systems including the propul-
sion system. For single-engine aircraft applications, this is a
flight-critical issue, since loss of the engine means loss of
aircraft.
One important trend in engine monitoring that is becoming
a standard prognostic tool is the use of oil debris measure-
ment and capture. This technology replaces the traditional
“magnetic plug,” which can be examined for ferus partic-
ulate after each flight, with a system that can measure the
number and size of particles (both ferus and nonferus) in the
oil lubrication and scavenge system. From this information,
the potential failure of one or more of the engine shaft bear-
ings can be predicted. A more definitive examination of the
captured particulate using specialized flight line equipment
can also be used to support maintenance decision making.
REFERENCES
Langton, R. (2006) Stability & Control of Aircraft Systems, John
Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester.
Langton, R., Clark, C., Hewitt, M. and Richards, L. (2009) Aircraft
Fuel Systems, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester.