Gas Turbine Laboratory

The Gas Turbine Lab (GTL) at Embry-Riddle supports computational and experimental research in the aero-thermal sciences applied to power and propulsion systems.

Research areas include:

• Turbomachinery aerodynamics
• Thermodynamic modeling
• Gas turbine performance
• Heat transfer and thermal management
• Supercritical fluid dynamics
• Distributed propulsion

Students and research staff at the GTL have experience working with aerospace corporations and privately owned companies and assist with intellectual property development.

Equipment

• Shock tubes
• Cascade rigs
• High-response pressure transducers (PCB)
• Temperature and pressure-sensitive paint system
• Pitot tubes
• Thermocouple arrays
• Various data collection equipment, such as DAQ boards and oscilloscopes
• Acrylic internal channels: Pin Fin, Impingement, Ribbed, Smooth
• External impingement nozzle (variable angle and height; local and average data)
• High-performance workstations
• High-performance computing cluster access
• Experience and access to various commercial software: Star-CCM+, Optimate+, ANSYS CFX, COMSOL, MATLAB, PYTHON, NPSS and proprietary codes

In addition, the GTL is home to several engines used for instruction of propulsion engineering students: GE TF-34, Garrett TPF 351-20, P&W JT8-15D and GE CF6-6.