PAPER NUMBER 64-GTP-8

Copyright © 1964 by ASME

FT4A Gas-Turbine Engine for Marine

AN and Industrial Applications

AS ME

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C. L. CARLSON
Senior Project Engineer,
Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Division,
PUBLICATION United Aircraft Corporation,
East Hartford, Conn.

The major design features of the FT4A gas-turbine engine for marine
and industrial applications are described, the development-test history of
the engine is reviewed, and the field experience with this and similar
engine concepts is discussed. In addition, the particular characteristics
of the FT4A power plant which make the latter attractive for various ap-
plications are mentioned.

The FT4A gas-turbine engine was developed at

Pratt & Whitney Aircraft to make available for
marine and industrial applications a compact,
lightweight power plant which would utilize a
highly developed aircraft gas-turbine engine as
its gas generator and would be capable of deliver-
ing as much as 30,000 shp. The engine design was
initiated early in 1961 in response to a request
$1 PER COPY for proposal from the U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships
for a lightweight gas-turbine engine capable of
5 0 C TO ASME MEMBERS delivering 30,000 hp at 80 F for hydrofoil-ship
propulsion. The requirements of the power plant
for such an application are similar in many re-
spects to those for aircraft propulsion, namely:
The Society shall not be responsible for statements or 1 Rapid start-up to maximum power.
opinions advanced in papers or in discussion at meet- 2 High power for short duration for take-off.
ings of the Society or of its Divisions or Sections, or 3 Light weight.
printed in its publications. 4 Compact arrangement.
5 Minimum crew attention.
Discussion is printed only if the paper is pub-
lished in an ASME journal.

Released for general publication upon presentation

Contributed by the Gas Turbine Power Division for presentation at the Gas
Turbine Conference and Products Show, Houston, Tex., March 1-5, 1964, of
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Manuscript received at ASME
Headquarters, December 26, 1963.
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS
345 East 47th Street, New York, N. Y. 10017 Written discussion on this paper will be accepted up to April 6, 1964.

Copies will be available until January 1, 1965.

Printed in U.S.A.

Fig. 1 FT4A-2 free turbine and gas generator assembly with exhaust elbow and drive shaft attached (left side view)
The FT4A engine was designed around an already
proven gas generator, the J75 turbojet engine.
The latter engine, which is currently in use in
the F-105 and F-106 military aircraft and, under
its commercial designation (JT4), in some models
of the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 transports, was
considered to be ideally suited to serve as the
power source for driving the free-turbine compo-
nent of the FT4A engine. The design of the free-
turbine component involved new effort, but the
company's turbomachinery experience was such that
no major problems were foreseen. Thus, it was ex-
pected that a design for the overall engine would
be achieved without the necessity for undertaking
an extensive developmental program.
The design, construction, and test program for
the FT4A engine was jointly supported by the Bu-
reau of Ships and Pratt & Whitney Aircraft. Since
initiation of the program, other applications for
an engine of this type have developed in the fields
of marine propulsion, electric power generation,
and industrial processes. A range of power rat-
ings is available in this versatile power plant
to meet the needs of such widely divergent appli-
cations as hydrofoil ships, which require high
power output for short duration, and industrial
process installations, which require moderate pow-
er output for continuous, year-long, operation.
DESCRIPTION OF ENGINE
The FT4A engine, Fig.1, consists of a gas gen-
erator and a power turbine. The gas generator
fulfills the function of the steam boiler in a
steam turbine system; it consists of the basic ma-
chinery of the military and commercial versions of
2
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the JT4 jet engine. The power turbine replaces
the jet nozzle of the aircraft engine and converts
the energy of the hot gases to shaft horsepower
rather than to jet thrust. Since the power tur-
bine is not mechanically connected to the gas-gen-
erator shaft, the term, "free turbine," is usually
applied to the unit.
The gas generator of the FT4A was designed in
1952 under contract with the Government to provide
a jet engine for propulsion of Mach-2 fighter air-
craft. It has been under active development since
that time and has accumulated more than 42,500 hr
of development testing in company facilities.
Various models of this engine have accumulated
more than 7,000,000 hr of service experience and
have established and excellent record of dependa-
bility. The application of this gas generator to
marine and industrial fields brings to these areas
an "off-the-shelf" gas generator with proven capa-
bility far beyond anything which would be specifi-
cally developed for these fields with funds which
might be available for this purpose.
The gas generator consists of a 15-stage,
12:1-compression-ratio, axial-flow compressor, a
can-annular combustion chamber, and a 3-stage, ax-
ial-flow, reaction turbine, Fig.2. The 12:1 com-
pression ratio is achieved without variable mech-
anisms by use of "twin-spool" design. The first
eight low-pressure-compressor stages are driven by
the second and third stages of the turbine, where-
as the seven high-pressure-compressor stages are
driven by the first stage of the turbine. All
components are arranged axially along a common
centerline, with the shaft connecting the low-
pressure compressor and its turbine rotors located
concentrically within the shaft connecting the

Fig. 2 FT4A free turbine and gas generator assembly (installation sketch)
high-pressure-compressor and high-pressure-turbine
rotors. The two rotor systems are not mechanical-
ly connected. Starting and control of the gas
generator is through the high-pressure rotor. De-
sign of the compressors and turbines is such that
the low-pressure rotor's speed will adjust to the
requirements of the high-pressure rotor so as to
maintain both compressors in stable operation.
The torque input required for starting the engine
is relatively low since only the high-pressure ro-
tor is turned by the starter; the low-pressure and
free-turbine rotors are brought up to speed by the
energy generated in the high-pressure-rotor system.
The combustion chamber consists of an annular com-
partment housing eight burner cans each of which
is supplied by six fuel nozzles. A transition
duct combines the flow from the eight cans to form
an annular entry to the turbine. The original en-
gine burned liquid fuel; however, a modification
was subsequently developed which made it possible
to burn gaseous fuel, as an alternative to liquid
fuel, in the same combustion chamber, with only a
change in fuel-nozzle and manifold configurations.
In designing the free turbine for the FT4A en-
gine, the principal objective sought was achieve-
ment of maximum efficiency, with the use of con-
servative stresses and the adherence to those gen-
eral proportions which extensive design, develop-
ment, and test experience with gas turbines had
proven to be most satisfactory. A design reflect-
ing the knowledge gained by such experience could
be expected, with reasonable certainty, to be suc-
cessful in initial operation.
The free turbine is a two-stage, axial-flow,
reaction turbine. It is adapted to the gas gen-
erator by means of an annular, diffusing, transi-
tion duct, and it utilizes a diffuser and a 90-deg
elbow at the exhaust. The turbine blades have in-
tegral tip shrouds, with shroud notches to provide
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blade-vibration damping. The turbine rotor is
supported by bearings at its front and rear and
utilizes a flexibly connected extension shaft for
power transmission to the driven load. The entire
turbine is designed for minimum thermal stresses
during rapid warmup and shutdown. Operating speed
of the free turbine, being independent of the gas
generator, can be selected as required for the
driven load, while the gas generator is operated
at the optimum speed for the power level required.
The main-shaft bearings, in particular, re-
flect the results of years of intensive develop-
ment work to provide exceptionally clean, tough,
high-strength materials, refinements in detail
bearing design, favorable installation character-
istics, and optimum lubrication. Service exper-
ience in commercial aircraft has shown a high
degree of reliability for these bearings. They
are not limited in operating time; replacements
at overhaul are made solely on the basis of con-
dition found upon visual inspection. The exper-
ience has shown that, for bearings at a given lo-
cation, total operating hours divided by the total
number of bearings replaced yields an average of
42,000 hr of operation per bearing replacement.
Bearing compartments are sealed by means of face
and ring-type carbon seals. Experience with seals
of these types has been excellent in millions of
hours of aircraft service, and experience to date
in marine and industrial applications has been
equally noteworthy. The carbon seals minimize
flow of air through the bearing compartments, re-
ducing susceptibility of bearing parts to salt-
atmosphere corrosion. Lubrication of the gas
generator and free turbine is provided by two in-
dependent oil systems, each of which is operated
by engine-rotor-driven pressure and scavenge pumps.
A control system is provided to perform the
following functions:
3
 1.2
80.° F AMBIENT TEMP
SEA LEVEL
1 .0
TEST DATA

S.F.C. 08
LB/HP/HR SPECIFICATION ESTIMATE
2000 RPM
FREE TURBINE
SHAFT SPEED
0.6 (N3)

2500 RPM

3300 RPM 3600 RPM 4000 RPM

0.4
0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000

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SHAFT HORSEPOWER

Fig. 3 Typical propeller-load performance curve for

FT4A-2 free-turbine engine

1 Automatic starting to idle.

2 Scheduling acceleration and deceleration
rate.
3 Limiting maximum turbine temperature.
4 Governing the free turbine.
5 Preventing excessive overspeed of the free
turbine after sudden loss of load.
The FT4A engine is available in models opera-
ting on liquid fuel or on gaseous fuel. The liq-
uid-fuel engines utilize Hamilton JFC25 hydrome-
chanical fuel controls. The dependable operation-
al characteristics of the latter have been proven
by millions of hours of service use on aircraft
engines. To this control is added a Woodward PSG
hydraulic governor for free-turbine governing.
Overspeed shutdown is accomplished by fast-acting
solenoid valves triggered by two independent over-
speed-sensing systems. The gaseous-fuel version
of the engine utilizes a Hamilton SPC electric
control system. This control system has been in
use on Pratt & Whitney Aircraft inudstrial engines
for several years and has an outstanding record of
reliability.
Materials used throughout the engine are con-
sistent with sound aircraft practice. The marine
version of the FT4A makes extensive use of titani-
um in the compressor section. FT4A engine parts
made from titanium are of identical design with
those proven in the J75 military-engine models.
The use of this material in aircraft-engine appli-
cations was pioneered by Pratt & Whitney Aircraft.
Diffused nickel-cadmium plating is used in loca-
tions where steel parts require protection against
corrosion. A diffused, aluminum-oxide coating
protects parts of the turbine particularly suscep-
tible to sulfidation attack.
The high compression ratio, combined with
close attention to aero-dynamic design, gives the
FT4A engine exceptionally good performance, as
evidenced by Fig.3. The weight of the FT4A-2 en-
Fig. 4 Sulfidation test rig: A-Specimens, B-stationary spin-
dle, C-burner exhaust, D-salt-water injection tube
gine, including the exhaust elbow, is 13,600 lb; a
very low weight, considering the power potential
for industrial and marine applications. The en-
gine is readily disassembled into two sections,
the gas generator and the free turbine, for ease
of handling.
The FT4A engine is designed for ease of in-
spection and replacement of components located in
high-operating-temperature regions. Thus, the in-
dividual combustion chambers and the first-stage
turbine nozzle vanes may be inspected and, if nec-
essary, replaced without the engine having to be
removed from its installation, simply by sliding
the outer combustion-chamber cover rearward over
the turbine outer case. The eight individual com-
bustion chambers, the fuel manifold and nozzles,
and the turbine nozzle vanes then become accessi-
ble.
DEVELOPMENT TESTING
The development testing of the FT4A engine has
consisted of laboratory testing of its components
and materials, to evaluate marine corrosion prob-
lems; stand testing of its gas generator, to eval-
uate materials for use in marine engines; and
stand testing of the complete FT4A power plant.
As previously noted, the initial intended ap-
plication of the FT4A engine was for Navy hydro-
foil craft. This meant that problems of corrosion
associated with the marine atmosphere were of par-

4
titular concern. Another related problem was that
of "sulfidation." Sulfidation is defined as an
attack of nickel-base turbine materials at high
temperature as a result of the combined effects of
sulfur in the fuel and chloride ions (sodium chlo-
ride, primarily) in the air or fuel. The salt is
believed to act as a flux which cleans the oxide
from the surface of the material and thus allows
the sulfur to combine with the chromium in the
nickel-base alloy, reducing its oxidation resis-
tance. The Navy requirement for use of diesel
fuel (MIL-F-16884) having an allowable sulfur lev-
el of 1 percent aggravates the sulfidation prob-
lem. The phenomenon appears to be most signifi-
cant at temperatures above 1550 F and involves,
primarily, the first-stage turbine blades.
A laboratory test program was conducted to
evaluate the sulfidation characteristics of vari-
ous turbine materials and coating. This program
was conducted on an erosion-test rig, Figs.4 and 5.
High-sulfur-content diesel fuel was burned in the
burner while salt-water spray, in varying amounts,
was injected in the air stream to the burner.
Test material specimens were mounted on a spindle
and rotated in the blast of the burner. Most of
the tests were run for a period of 50 hr at metal
temperatures covering the range of interest in the
turbine, 1450 to 2000 F. The results of these
tests indicated that the low-chrome, nickel-base
alloys, with the most attractive high-temperature
properties for use in the first-stage turbine
blades, tend to be subject to significant sulfida-
tion attack. A diffused-aluminum-oxide coating
process was developed, however, and this coating
was found to provide good protection of the base
material.
Other laboratory tests were conducted to ver-
ify the design of the free-turbine disks (in spin-
pit testing); to evaluate the endurance character-
istics of free-turbine blades (in vibratory-fa-
tigue bench testing); to endurance test the free-
turbine governor and its drive system; and to
evaluate the corrosion resistance of the fuel pump
and control system with salt-water-contaminated
fuel. The results of these tests were favorable,
indicating that the engine, as designed, should be
capable of fulfilling its mission.
In full-scale engine-stand testing, a 100-hr
test was conducted on the gas generator to eval-
uate its performance and corrosion and sulfidation
resistance under simulated marine conditions.
This test was conducted using MIL-F-16884 diesel
fuel with sulfur content at the maximum value of
1 percent. Sea water was injected at the engine
inlet at a rate of one part of salt solids to one
million parts of air by weight. The test was run
to a cyclic schedule, with 25 percent of the total
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Fig.5 Sulfidation test rig in operation
time at a turbine temperature of 1800 F and 50
percent at 1550 F. It consisted of ten 10-hr pe-
riods, each followed by a water wash of the engine
and an inspection for evidence of corrosion, sul-
fidation, and salt accumulation. The test engine
had been assembled with compressor parts which had
various types of paint and plating protection and
with turbine parts fabricated from a variety of
different materials. As an example, the first
turbine wheel had four different types of blades,
dimensionally similar, but made from different ma-
terials. Some blades had coatings; others were
uncoated. This test produced sulfidation findings
which corroborated the laboratory test results. It
also enabled a better understanding of the direc-
tion corrective action should take in solving cor-
rosion problems involving compressor parts. For
the latter, titanium proved to be the most satis-
factory material. Diffused nickel-cadmium plate
gave good protection to steel parts and had good
durability, whereas the various paint treatments
were subject to peeling or erosion.
The results of the laboratory and gas-genera-
tor testing to which reference has been made have
provided the necessary background for making the
FT4A engine suitable for marine applications.
However, they have indicated that many of other-
wise most suitable, available materials will de-
teriorate under extreme salt-spray-injestion con-
ditions, suggesting that close attention to design
of shipboard engine-air-intake ducts, to minimize
salt-spray entry, will pay off in terms of reduced
engine maintenance costs.
5

Fig.6 Installation of FT4A-2 free turbine and gas generator assembly in a test stand
The first test of a complete FT4A engine was
conducted during the latter part of 1962 in the
Willgoos Turbine Laboratory at Pratt & Whitney
Aircraft. The engine was assembled with strain
gages on the free-turbine blades to measure blade
stresses as a function of rotor speed and power
output. The engine was also instrumented for the
measurement of performance, linear vibration, met-
al temperatures throughout the free turbine, and
mount-system thermal growth. The test installa-
tion, shown in Fig.6, consisted of a large cell in
which the engine was mounted, coupled to a dual-
ratio gearbox driving two water-cooled, eddy-cur-
rent dynamometers coupled in tandem. The gearbox
and dynamometers were cradled and the torque re-
action was taken on a pair of hydraulic load cells
for torque measurement. The air was ducted to the
engine from the silencer intake through a set of
ram blowers used to overcome duct losses to the
engine. This test installation was limited to
20,000 hp. The test, consisting of 60 hr of ex-
ploratory testing, was completed without incident.
The performance of the engine exceeded expecta-
tions; Fig.3, previously referred to, shows the
measured performance as compared with the esti-
mated performance. Measured vibratory stresses in
6
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the free-turbine blades were very low, less than
2500 psi. Linear vibration was under one mil
(single amplitude) at all conditions. Following
the completion of testing, the engine was disas-
sembled for inspection. All parts were revealed
to be in excellent condition. The engine was then
reassembled.
FIELD EXPERIENCE
Subsequent to its initial in-house operation,
the first FT4A engine was delivered to the Navy
for service testing. A second FT4A engine has
since gone into service in the industrial elec-
tric-power-generation field, and other related ex-
perience is being accumulated.
The Bureau of Ships, having an interest in ap-
plying the FT4A engine to new ship designs, ar-
ranged to conduct a 1000-hr service evaluation
test on the original test engine at the Naval
Boiler and Turbine Laboratory. The test installa-
tion was designed to operate the FT4A engine gen-
erally as it would be installed in a displacement
ship. The engine was mounted in small, normally
unmanned, sound-absorbent enclosure. Air was
ducted to a plenum chamber into which the inlet
was mounted; the exhaust was ducted to the outside
of the laboratory. Two tandem-cradled, high-
speed, water brakes, directly driven by the free
turbine, were provided for load absorption. Pro-
visions were made for spraying salt water into the
inlet air duct upstream of the plenum chamber.
The program for testing the FT4A engine at the
Naval Boiler and Turbine Laboratory provided for
operation in accordance with the MIL-E-17341B en-
durance schedule. This schedule includes 176 hr

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at 22,000 shp, 250 hr at 20,000 shp and time at
various other power settings down to idle. Diesel
fuel conforming to MIL-F-16884 was to be used and
the last 10 hr of each 100-hr period were to be
run with 0.5 part per million salt spray into the
inlet duct. The engine was to be washed following
each salt-spray period simulating expected service
operation.
Prior to starting the endurance testing, a
calibration was conducted to cover the complete
speed and power range through 30,000 shp. The re-
sults of this calibration were in excellent agree-
ment with the earlier company test and confirmed
the estimated performance through 30,000 shp.
After 500 hr of programmed operation, an inspec-
tion of the hot section of the engine was made
without removing the engine from the installation.
The engine was found to be in excellent condition
and no parts were replaced. The engine then con-
tinued on test and, at the time this paper was
prepared, 800 hr of scheduled testing had been
completed. The operation of the engine had been
excellent throughout the completed portion of the
test program.
The Navy has conducted a shock test on a J7, -
F - 5 engine (an Air Force engine similar to the
FT4A gas generator) at its Underwater Explosives
Research Division, Fig.7. The results of this
test are not available for publication, but it may
be stated that the engine proved to be extremely
resistant to severe shock input. This is an im-
portant consideration for an engine powering a
naval ship.
The first industrial application of the FT4A
engine was a peak-power installation for the
Delaware Power and Light Company, in Wilmington,
Delaware. This installation consists of a semi-
portable package including a natural-gas-burning
FT4A engine directly driving an Allis-Chalmers,
air-cooled, 15,000-kw, generator. The unit is
rated at 13,500 kw at 80 F, increasing to the
15,000-kw generator limit at 53 F. This rating
is at a gas-generator turbine temperature compar-
able to that allowed for aircraft maximum continu-
ous use. The equipment is enclosed in an aluminum
enclosure similar to a large truck-trailer body,
Fig.8. The system is provided with automatic se-
Fig. 7 Shock testing of FT4A engine gas generator
quencing equipment and provision for control from
a remote location by means of telemetry. This
unit was placed in operation during the early part
of 1963 and performed its duty on schedule during
the summer peak-load periods. The Delaware Power
and Light Company has ordered a second unit for
operation in time for the 1964 summer peaking re-
quirements.
The FT4A gas generator, the GG4A, has been
ordered by Stal-Laval of Sweden to be used with a
free turbine of their design in a Stal-Laval pro-
pulsion system for two frigates being built for
the Danish Navy. This will be a CODAG installa-
tion using diesel cruising power and two gas tur-
bines for high-speed operation. The gas turbine
will be rated at 22,000 hp. Engine deliveries to
Stal-Laval are scheduled for 1964. A land-based
test of the installation is programmed to be run
prior to first operation in the ship, scheduled
for the latter part of 1965.
Consideration is being given to developing a
regenerative version of the FT4A for applications
requiring exceptionally low fuel consumption. The
simple-cycle FT4A engine, in its present state of
development, has fuel-consumption rates which are
competitive with those of some currently available
regenerative engines and the advantages of compact
arrangement and light weight. It is possible,
however, to improve further the fuel consumption
7

Fig. 8 FT4A engine installation for electric power peaking at Delaware Power and Light Company
in applications where the complexity of regenera-
tion can be tolerated.
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft has accumulated a
broad background of related experience on other
similar engines. The GG3, the counterpart of the
J57 engine, has run a total of more than 40,000 hr
in industrial-process and gas-transmission-pumping
applications. The rating for this application is
at a gas-generator turbine temperature comparable
to that used for cruise power in aircraft. One
engine has run 16,000 hr, with two overhauls at
8000-hr intervals. This experience has indicated
that time between overhauls of the aircraft gas-
turbine type will grow significantly beyond the
8000-hr initial period when operation is at moder-
ate ratings. An electric peaking installation of
an FT3C engine at the Hartford Electric Light Com-
pany has run more than 1100 hr.' This is an auto-
matic generating plant similar to the FT4 unit at
the Delaware Power and Light Company. An FT12 en-
gine is being operated in a Navy LCM on an accel-
1 "Economics and Operating Results Prototype Air-
craft Jet Engine - Electric Powerplant," by R.A.
Evans and J.C. Sonntag, ASME Paper No. 63-AHGT-36,
March 3-7, 1963.
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erated test program to obtain experience with con-
verted aircraft gas-turbine engines in a marine
atmosphere. This engine had run 250 hr through
September 1963. This related experience on simi-
lar engines has given good reason for confidence
in the future of the FT4A engine.
Conclusion
The future applications 2 of the FT4A and sim-
ilar gas-turbine engines appear unlimited in the
marine and industrial areas. This type of engine
provides large quantities of power available at a
momentTs notice in a compact, lightweight package.
Its fuel-consumption values are competitive with
those of other prime movers. Furthermore, it
lends itself to automation and thus enables sig-
nificant reductions to be made in operating per-
sonnel for ships and power stations.
2 "Gas Turbines for Unconventional Craft," by
G.L. Graves and R.S. Carleton, SAE-ASNE Paper No.
685A, April 8-11, 1963.
"Combined Diesel - Gas Turbine Power Plants in
Coast Guard Vessels," by R.C. Case and Lt. K.W.
Forslund, SAE-ASNE Paper No. 685c, April 8-11,
1963.