"Kaveri" engine development Program

Subrata Das

Gas Turbine Research Establishment, Ministry of Defence

P.B. 9302, C.V.Raman Nagar, Bangalore 560 093, India

 

Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), a premier Defence R&D Organisation is developing 'Kaveri' engine to power Indian Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) - Tejas. This engine will be suited for operational extremes of South Asia and has a growth potential for future generation aircrafts.

LCA 'Tejas' specification required a high thrust-weight ratio engine in the order of 8:1 and the engine cycle was evolved specifically to meet LCA mission requirement. 'Kaveri' is a low bypass twin spool augmented turbo fan engine of 80kN thrust class.

The initial phase of Kaveri engine design was based on the computation techniques available at that time. This resulted in subtle compromises in engine weight, keeping in view the performance required for LCA 'Tejas'. The uncertainty in the design approach was compensated by providing the margins of safety. Subsequently, component and engine level tests were conducted for the validation and verification of the design methodologies. Concurrently, more design inputs were obtained from various reviews/audits. Use of better materials with high reliability and efficient manufacturing processes enriched the design approach.

Kaveri engine development programme has challenging tasks in meeting the desired performance at the lowest Life Cycle Cost (LCC). To achieve these twin objectives, very high importance is embedded in the design for safety, reliability and maintainability in addition to performance, weight and life. The salient features of this management strategy are that the project has brought various industries in private and public sector, different laboratories of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and academic institutions on one platform. Concurrent Engineering approach has been the theme of managing this programme to reduce the risk, cost and time with a view to ensure that this engine could be made available to the customer at the most economical cost. The absorption of the current levels of technology into the programme is being achieved by means of following strategies:

 

Ø                  In-house core competence development programs

Ø                  Collaborations with technical agencies and academia within the country

Ø                  Testing/design programs at GTRE, other agencies in India and abroad

 

In this paper, an attempt has been made to highlight the efficacy of system/component design, component improvement programme and the actual problems during the development of Kaveri engine.