Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
a
School of Power and Energy, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xian 710072, China
b
Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering College, Air Force Engineering University, Xian 710038, China
c
School of Flight Technology, Civil Aviation Flight University of China, Guanghan 618307, China
KEYWORDS Abstract Active control of turbine blade tip clearance continues to be a concern in design and con-
Active clearance control trol of gas turbines. Ever increasing demands for improved efciency and higher operating temper-
(ACC); atures require more stringent tolerances on turbine tip clearance. In this paper, a turbine tip
Aero-engine; clearance control apparatus and a model of turbine tip clearance are proposed; an implicit active
Aircraft; generalized predictive control (GPC), with auto-regressive (AR) error modication and fuzzy
Generalized predictive con- adjustment on control horizon, is presented, as well as a quantitative analysis method of robust per-
trol (GPC); turbation radius of the system. The active clearance control (ACC) of aero-engine turbine tip clear-
Global convergence;
ance is evaluated in a lapse-rate take-off transient, along with the comparative and quantitative
Robust perturbation radius;
analysis of the stability and robustness of the active tip clearance control system. The results show
Turbine tip clearance
that the resultant active tip clearance control system with the improved GPC has favorable steady-
state and dynamic performance and benets of increased efciency, reduced specic fuel consump-
tion, and additional service life.
2013 Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of CSAA & BUAA.
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
using compressor bleed air in an open-loop control system. 2.1. The aircraft model
Although open-loop clearance techniques are able to improve
performance, many of the engines actual characteristics respon- In order to get the inlet condition (the altitude H and the Mach
sible for the minimum clearance are unknown. These character- number Ma) of the engine during aircraft maneuverings, the
istics include rotor dynamics as well as changes in rotor equations of motion for the aircraft are needed (see Fig. 1).
geometry due to wear or operating condition. Therefore, The aircraft model can be derived by using the Euler angle ap-
open-loop techniques must be conservative in closing the gap proach for an orientation model,12 but the disadvantage is that
which results in suboptimal performance. In addition, the use the differential equations of motion become singular when the
of compressor bleed air results in a system that is unable to rap- pitch angle h passes through p/2. To avoid these singulari-
idly control clearances under more dynamic conditions, such as ties and ill-conditioned differential equations, quaternions
asymmetric clearance changes during aircraft maneuverings. are used in the aircraft orientation presentation.
Clearances reduced within 510 mil (1 mil = 0.0254 mm) can
improve engine efciency by several percent points.59 It has Lemma 1. Let vector a rotate around vector en by angle c and
been reported by Lattime3 and Wiseman 5 et al. that, for every get vector b, then
0.001 inch (1 inch = 2.54 cm) decrease in gap in the HPT, spe-
cic fuel consumption (SFC) increases 0.1% and engine gas tem- b uau1 1
perature (EGT) increases 1 C, and noise reduces along with the
where u is a quaternion and u cos 2c en sin 2c ; 1
u cos 2c
reduction of aircraft emission, which benets environment and 13
economy a lot.10,11 en sin 2c. The proof of Lemma 1 is skipped here.
Increased efciencies can be achieved by using an active
With Lemma 1 and relations between the quaternion
actuation technique that can precisely control clearances at
q0 + q1i + q2j + q3k and the roll angle /, the pitch angle h,
rates sufcient to handle the dynamic conditions encountered
the yaw angle w,14 we can have an aircraft system representa-
during takeoff and landing as well as to provide for optimal
tion existing of 13 scalar rst-order differential equations:
clearances during cruise. 8
>
> 1
>
> u_ rv qw X FT 2q1 q3 q0 q2 g
>
> m
<
2. Model development and active generalized predictive control 1
v_ pw ru Y 2q2 q3 q0 q1 g 2
>
> m
>
>
>
> 1
The block diagram in Fig. 1 shows the control loop architec- : w_ qu pv Z q20 q21 q22 q23 g
m
ture used for clearance control in this paper, which is com- 8
posed of an aircraft, an aero-engine, a turbine tip clearance >
< p_ c 1 r c1 pq c3 L c4 N hE q
apparatus, and control parts. In this section, a nonlinear q_ c1 pr c6 p2 r2 c7 M FT zT hE r 3
>
:
dynamical model of turbine tip clearance and certain aircraft r_ c8 p c2 rq c4 L c9 N hE q
and aero-engine will be presented, as well as a turbine tip clear-
ance apparatus and an implicit active generalized predictive 2 3 2 32 3
q_ 0 0 p q r q0
control (GPC) with auto-regressive (AR) error modication 6 q_ 7 1 6 p 0 7
6 17 6 r q 76 q1 7
6
7
and fuzzy adjustment on control horizon. The active control 6 7 6 76 7 4
system for aero-engine turbine tip clearance will be evaluated 4 q_ 2 5 2 4 q r 0 p 54 q2 5
in a lapse-rate take-off transient. q_ 3 r q p 0 q3
Fig. 1 Block diagram of the whole system for turbine tip clearance control.
Active generalized predictive control of turbine tip clearance for aero-engines 1149
2 3 2 32 3
x_ E q20 q21 q22 q23 2q1 q2 q0 q3 2q1 q3 q0 q2 u
6 7 6 76 7
4 y_ E 5 4 2q1 q2 q0 q3 q20 q21 q22 q23 2q2 q3 q0 q1 54 v 5
z_E 2q1 q3 q0 q2 2q2 q3 q0 q1 q20 q21 q22 q23 w
5
2 3 2 3
q0 cos /=2 cos h=2 cos w=2 sin /=2 sin h=2 sin w=2
6q 7 6 sin /=2 cos h=2 cos w=2 cos /=2 sin h=2 sin w=2 7
6 17 6 7
6 7 6 7
4 q2 5 4 cos /=2 sin h=2 cos w=2 sin /=2 cos h=2 sin w=2 5
q3 cos /=2 cos h=2 sin w=2 sin /=2 sin h=2 cos w=2
6
where m is the mass of the aircraft, g the gravity constant, and
zT is an offset from the center of gravity along the z-axis that
the thrust FT lies in the xOz-plane of the body-xed reference
frame FB. Expressing the velocity vector V and the total angu-
lar velocity x of the aircraft with respect to the body-xed
frame FB gives V = ui + vj + wk and x = pi + qj + rk. (a) A longitudinal axial sectional view of the
X; Y and Z are the components of the aerodynamics force clearance control apparatus
in the frame FB respectively, while L; M and N the compo-
nents of the aerodynamics moment respectively. The coef-
cients c1 c9 in Eq. (3) are relevant to the moment of inertia
of the aircraft in the body-xed frame. xE, yE and zE are the
coordinates of the aircraft in the earth frame. hE is the engine
angular momentum.
From zE and V, the altitude H and the Mach number Ma
can be derived.
clearance between the stationary casing 74 and the rotor (not and mechanical stresses. As shown in Eq. (9), the relative
shown) of a gas engine is represented by the outer tips 76A of change in the time-varying geometry of each submodel is then
the rotor blades 76 (shown in Fig. 2) which extend radially out- used to calculate the overall change in the clearance d in Eqs.
wardly in an alternating fashion between the stator vanes 78 (7) and (8).
which, in turn, are stationarily attached to and extend radially
inwardly from the casing 74. The screw 142 is rotatably mounted dt rshroud t rrotor t lblade t
through the bosses 74 and 148 formed respectively in the inner ra us1 us2 r0 us1 us2 L us1 us2 9
stationary casing 74 and the outer casing 150. The snap ring
152 on the screw 142 and an annular shoulder (disposed over where rshroud(t), rrotor(t) and lblade(t) are respectively, the
the snap ring 152) permit the screw 142 to rotate relative to shroud inner radius, the rotor outer radius, and the blade
the boss 148, but prevent axial movement thereof. Rotation of length as a function of time; ra, r0 and L are the initial geomet-
the screw 142 relative to the internally threaded bore 96 of the ric states of the shroud, the rotor, and the blade, respectively,
shroud segment 92 therewith results in a radial movement of while the subscripted us denote deformations due to thermal
the shroud segment 92 relative to the rotor without changing and mechanical stresses. Herein, the derivation of rshroud(t) will
the rotational orientation of the screw 142 and its connection be detailed and those of rrotor(t) and lblade(t) will be omitted
to the lever arm 112 connected by the unison ring 80 driven by due to limited space.
the hydraulic actuating cylinder. The casing grows due to thermal and pressure differentials.
The biasing means of the clearance control apparatus 72 is As shown in Fig. 3 ( In Fig. 3, T and h denote temperature and
preferably the wave spring 102 disposed in the channel 104. convection heat transfer coefcient respectively), the inner sur-
The wave spring 102 is in the form of an elongated strip having face of the shroud at radius ra is exposed to heated gas at a
an undulating conguration along the longitudinal cross sec- temperature approximately equal to the turbine inlet tempera-
tion through the strip. The spring 102 has a pair of the spaced ture Tturbine. The outer surface of the shroud at radius rb is ex-
openings 104 dened for mounting the spring on the shroud posed to compressor discharge air. Compressor bleed air is
extending through the spring openings 104 so as to prevent used to purge the space between the shroud and the casing
movement of the spring 102 longitudinally within the channel and the pressure ppurge is approximately 80% of pcompressor.
100 relative to the shroud segment 92. The outer casing wall, re, is exposed to bypass airow. The
The proposed model of the clearance control apparatus in shroud in the clearance control apparatus can be modeled as
Fig. 2 incorporates three basic elements a shroud, a turbine a series of arcs rigidly attached to the outer casing, while the
rotor (or disk), and a turbine blade, as shown in Fig. 3. In or- casing is modeled as a hoop-like structure and the stress is
der to predict deection of each element due to thermal and symmetrical. Because the shroud is attached to the case in
mechanical stresses, the temperature, pressure, and force distri- the form of a series of arcs, it is assumed that the abradable
butions in each element must be modeled. The engine model material layer maintains its approximate thickness even when
described in Section 2.2 is employed to provide speed, temper- thermally stressed, so the total deection of the shroud and
ature, and pressure transients for the shroud, rotor, and blade the casing due to a thermal differential can be derived from
submodels. Each submodel predicts deections due to thermal experimentally or numerically determined thermal expansion
coefcient a by using Timoshenkos hollow cylinder equation algorithms. In the explicit GPC, the model parameters of the
of thermal stress15 as shown in Eq. (10). controlled system are identied rstly, and then Diophantine
2 equations are solved, which involves a large amount of calcu-
r 1
us1 ard Td 2 e 2 Te Td 10 lation. However, in the implicit GPC, the parameters in the
re rd 2 lnre =rd
optimal control law are identied by the inputs/outputs of
where r is the radius of the casing wall; subscripts e and d the controlled system, instead of identifying the model param-
represent outer and inner. The deection due to a pressure dif- eters of the controlled system, to avoid too much intermediate
ferential can be derived as follows. computation during solving Diophantine equations online.
In discussing stresses in a hollow cylinder, etc., it is advan- A novel implicit GPC will be presented next in this paper.
tageous to use polar coordinates in which the radial coordinate The parameters of the optimal control law are identied, based
is often denoted by q, and the angular coordinate by u. If the on the farthest-step-ahead prediction and inputs/outputs of the
stress distribution is symmetrical with respect to the axis, the controlled system and the equivalence of GPC and DMC, the
stress components do not depend on u and are functions of prediction error is modied by the AR model of time series of
q only.15 The general stress function U is prediction error, and the control horizon is adjusted by means
of fuzzy control.
U A ln q Bq2 ln q Cq2 D 11
where A, B, C and D are constants of integration. 2.4.1. The representation of algorithm structure
In the case of a symmetrical stress distribution,
8 Let the prediction model of the controlled system be described
>
> 1 dU by the following matrix polynomial controlled auto-regressive
>
> rq
>
< q dq integrated moving average (CARIMA) model16:
d2 U 12
>
> ru Az1 yk Bz1 yk Cz1 nk=D 17
>
> dq2
>
:
squ suq 0 where A(z1), B(z1), C(z1) are polynomials of the backward
where rq, ru, squ and suq are the normal stress components in shift operator z1 with the order na, nb, and nc, respectively;
y(k), u(k), and n(k) stand for the output, the control, and the
the radial and circumferential directions and the shearing-
random noise sequence; D = 1 z1.
stress components, respectively.
The boundary conditions are: The performance index is:
(
rq jqrd pi X
N X
N
where pi is now the mean internal pressure inside the cavity where N is the prediction horizon; k(j) is weighting coefcient
ppurge, and po is the bypass pressure pbypass. of the control increment Du, and w(k) is the reference trajec-
Substituting Eq. (11) in Eq. (12) and using Eq. (13), tory of the output,
8
> r2d r2e po pi 1 pi r2d po r2e aj yk 1 ~
wk j ~ aj yr
>
>
< rq r2 r2 2 2
q re r2d
e d
14 where ~a is the output softness parameter, 0 < ~
a < 1, and yr is
>
> rd re po pi 1 pi r2d po r2e
2 2
the desired output.
>
: ur
r2e r2d q2 r2e r2d The performance index can be rewritten in the vector form
as below:
In the polar coordinate, the strain in the radial direction is
eq rq lru =E 15 J Y WT Y W KDUT DU 18
T
where l is the Poissons ratio and E is the modulus of elasticity where Y = [y(k + 1) y(k + 2) y(k + N)] is the system
in tension and compression. output; W = [w(k + 1) w(k + 2) w(k + N)]T is the refer-
Substituting Eq. (14) in Eq. (15) and integrating eq from 0 ence output; K = diag([k(k + 1) k(k + 2) k(k + N)]), and
to rd, the deection due to a pressure differential is obtained: DU = [Du(k) Du(k + 1) Du(k + N 1)]T.
1 Two Diophantine equations are introduced to drive the
us2 2 2 1 l pi r2d po r2e rd 1 lrd r2e po pi 16 j-step ahead prediction of the output:
E re rd
Tz1 Ej z1 Az1 D zj Fj z1 19
2.4. The implicit GPC with AR error modication and fuzzy 1 1 1 1
Bz Ej z Gj z Tz z Hj z j 1
20
adjustment on control horizon
where T(z1) = 1 t1z1, 0 6 t1 < 1 is a lter to weaken the
Dynamic matrix control (DMC) and generalized predictive colored noise, Ej(z1) = ej0 + ej1z1 + . . . + ej,j1 zj + 1,
control (GPC) are two classes of predictive control systems Fj(z1) = fj0 + fj1z1 + . . . + fjnzn, Gj(z1) = g0 + g1z1 +
that have formed applications in many areas. One of the com- . . . + gj1zj + 1, deg Gj(z1) = j 1, and degHj(z1) =
mon features of the classical predictive control systems is the nb 1.
direct utilization of plant input and output signals in the According to Eqs. (17), (19), and (20), the output y(k) can
closed-loop feedback control, hence avoiding observers in the be given by
implementation. There are many modied algorithms of
GPC which can be classied as explicit and implicit yk j Gj z1 Duk j 1 fk j gk j 21
1152 K. Peng et al.
3. Numerical example actual clearances under the improved GPC and the modied
LQG controller (with slight oscillation) can approach the ex-
In this section, a lapse-rate take-off transient (see Fig. 5) is pected clearance of 30 mil more easily than that under the
considered, and the system characteristics and structural PID controller (with a certain degree of oscillation); however,
parameters of the turbine tip clearance vary largely during the stability and controllability of clearance under the im-
the transient. Fig. 6 shows individual deections and overall proved GPC is better than those under the PID controller
clearance with reference to the engine speed transient without and the modied LQG controller. After the calculations, it
clearance adjustment. As expected, the rotor initially responds shows the fuel ow is reduced by 2% under the PID controller,
more quickly due to the centrifugal forces induced by the en- 4.95% under the modied LQG controller, and 5% under the
gine speed transient and the shroud catches up and grows more improved GPC relative to those without clearance active con-
rapidly due to thermal stresses than either the rotor or the trol during the lapse-rate take-off transient, as shown in
blades, and the pinch point described in Refs.19,20 can be seen Fig. 7(b). The robust perturbation radius under the improved
at about 10 s. Turbine clearance (expected to be 30 mil herein), GPC is about 0.8% larger than that under the modied LQG
altogether with the fuel ow and the robust perturbation ra- controller, 2.1% larger than that under the PID controller, and
dius, is showed in Fig. 7, respectively, in which Curve 1 is cor- 3% larger than that without clearance active control, as shown
responding to the case without clearance adjustment, Curve 2
is under the PID controller with PID parameters optimized by
the genetic algorithm, Curve 3 is under the modied LQG con-
troller for fast active turbine tip clearance control systems pre-
sented in Refs.19,20 by NASA Glenn Research Center, and
Curve 4 is under the implicit GPC with AR error modication
and fuzzy adjustment on control horizon. From Fig. 7(a), the
Fig. 6 Deections and clearance for the lapse-rate take-off Fig. 7 History chart of some parameters under no control and
transient. different controllers.
Active generalized predictive control of turbine tip clearance for aero-engines 1155
in Fig. 7 (c), that is, the system stability and robustness under 9. Kypuros JA, Melcher KJ. A reduced model for prediction of
the improved GPC is better than those under the PID control- thermal and rotational effects on turbine tip clearance. NASA/TM-
ler and the modied LQG controller. 2003-212226; 2003.
10. Lattime SB, Steinetz BM. Turbine engine clearance control systems:
current practices and future direction. NASA/CP-2003-212458/
4. Conclusions VOL1; 2002.
11. Steinetz BM, Lattime SB, Taylor S, DeCastro JA, Oswald J,
(1) In this paper, the active clearance control of turbine tip Melcher KJ. Evaluation of an active clearance control system
clearance in a lapse-rate take-off transient is considered concept. NASA/TM-2005-213856; 2005.
and the results show that the stability and controllability 12. Wu ST, Fei YH. Flight control system. Beijing: Beihang Univer-
of clearance under the improved GPC is better than sity Press; 2009 [Chinese].
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