Profile

Dr. Asim Ghosal is a Consulting Engineer in the Structures domain at the Bangalore Engineering Center of GE Aviation. In this role, he provides Technical Leadership across teams engaged in Structural Design & Analysis of NPI engines as well as supporting Matured fleets of Commercial aircraft engines. Asim graduated with a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering in 1990 from Calcutta University, and then completed M.E. (in 1992) and Ph.D. (in 1995) in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. His specialization was in Numerical Fracture Mechanics. Asim has been with GE since 1999, and has done various roles of increasing responsibility in both Organizational Leadership path and Technology Leadership path. Out of total 19 years, he spent 5.5 years in Gas Turbine design in GE Energy and rest in GE Aviation, holding “Consulting Engineer” Control Title both in Rotors and Structures. Prior to joining GE, Asim had 4 years of R&D experience as a Defence Scientist, Govt of India, in the Light Combat Aircraft (Tejas) project.

Title of the Talk

Technology Trends for Aircraft Engines.

Abstract

Scorecard for last 60 year of Aircraft Engines is pretty impressive … 90% improvement on Accidents per million flight hour, 400% improvement on Thrust-to- Weight, 45% reduction in Specific Fuel Consumption and 35DB reduction noise level! The presentation talks about the various Technologies that made it possible. For example, in wide-cord swept fan blade, the mid span Aft swept increases efficiency and tip Fwd swept is good for tip efficiency and stall margin. Next-gen Turbine blade or Ceramics Matrix Composite enables us to push the Firing Temperature thus making Brayton cycle producing more work. Advances in Prognostics and Diagnostics capability helps us in improving Reliability and Time-on-Wing. Cutting edge TAPS combustor technology helps us in having low emission durable combustor. Polymer composites at cold end helps on weight reduction, and so on!It also talks about challenges like Hot & Harsh environment, regulatory pressure on Emission/ Noise, and benefits that exponential growth in High Performance Computing capability brings to mitigate some of those challenges. Finally, it briefly touches upon possible disruptive technologies like Additive Manufacturing, Digital thread, Big Data Analytics as well as a few concepts like Variable Cycle Technology, Open rotor, Counter-rotating rotor and Distributed Propulsion that might change future engines.