Constant Volume Combustor implementation on a 50 passenger Commercial Regional Transport Mission Simulation

The Constant Volume Combustor (CVC) concept implements a type of constant volume combustion process utilizing wave rotor type machinery. Compared to a conventional turbine engine combustor, the CVC creates a pressure rise in addition to temperature rise. This results in the potential for greater work extraction from the flow through the turbine or higher pressure available at the exhaust nozzle to produce thrust. In this report, the results of a simulated system analysis are given. The conventional combustor from a RollsRoyce AE3007 turbofan engine is replaced by the CVC and a simulated mission is modeled within a computer integrated environment. The analysis codes include TERMAP, GENESIS, FLOPS, and ALCCA. The results show very impressive benefits in the fuel burn and DOC. However, some negative effects to the production cost are seen due to the CVC technology complexity and the higher combustor exit pressure. In addition to the analysis results, brief descriptions of the CVC machinery and gas dynamics are given.