Ceramic Gas Turbine Design and Test Experience

Book excerpt: The book summarizes the history and current status of the development of gas turbine engines and ancillary equipment using ceramic hot section components. Specifically, the book focuses on the evolution of component and engine designs, and the demonstration of design concepts through rig and engine testing of the ceramic gas turbine programs in the United States, Japan, Western Europe, and the countries of the former Soviet Union (primarily Russia). The 33 chapters cover ceramic gas turbine design in small gas turbines for automotive and cogeneration applications, midsize industrial and larger utility gas turbines, and aircraft and aeroderivative applications. Almost all of the book chapters have been prepared by technical personnel who are intimately involved in the development and demonstration of the ceramic gas turbine designs at their companies. The book will be of interest to engineering and management personnel at turbomachinery equipment manufacturers, development and fabrication personnel at suppliers of ceramic materials and components, researchers in government and private laboratories, teaching staff and students at technical colleges and universities, and personnel involved in planning and monitoring technology development programs. The theme emphasized throughout the book are the "lessons learned" from almost 40 years of ceramic gas turbine design and test experience. Learning directly from the experience of the researchers that took the ceramic gas turbine through the concept, preliminary, and detail design phases, while following the iterative design-test process cycles, is a unique way of becoming quickly familiar with the design challenges and solutions for using ceramics in gas turbine equipment. The book also amply demonstrates the hurdles that had to be ov