Strathclyde-Led LITECS Program Takes Aim at Gas Turbine Engine Emissions

The University of Strathclyde announced it is heading an £8 million research program to reduce the environmental impact of power-generating gas turbine engines (GTEs), such as those used in aviation. The Laser Imaging of Turbine Engine Combustion Species (LITECS) program will deliver transformational combustion measurement and modeling tools, enabling low-emission designs and low-emission fuel evaluations.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation, is pairing with industry to fund the consortium, which consists additionally of the universities of Edinburgh, Manchester, Southampton, Loughborough, and Sheffield. It builds on a previous £2.8 million program that used laser techniques to demonstrate 2D imaging of carbon dioxide in the exhaust plume of a full-scale commercial gas turbine aero-engine.

Initiative-affiliated industry partners currently working to establish new nonintrusive multibeam laser systems for simultaneous imaging of the concentration of gases, soot, and temperature in the exhausts and combustion zones of GTEs include Rolls-Royce, Siemens Energy, OptoSci, M Squared Lasers, and Tracerco.

Professor Walter Johnstone, from Strathclyde’s Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, is leading the program. Michael Lengden and Iain Burns will lead Strathclyde’s technical contribution in gas measurement and on soot measurements, respectively.