Smart Jet Engines : Case History of a Multidisciplinary Research Program

Abstract

Problems of high technological interest increasingly cut across traditional disciplinary boundaries. An integrated multidisciplinary approach not only enables greater reach in attacking such problems, but can also offer opportunities for achieving goals beyond those defined by conventional design constraints. In this lecture we illustrate such a process. The example used, which arises in the context of the development of "smart jet engines", is the dynamic control of aerodynamic instabilities in gas turbine compression systems. The lecture shows:1)the progression of technology and basic understanding of phenomena from the initial "back of the envelope calculation" stage through increasingly complex models, experiments, and physical situations, and 2)the interaction between disciplines which was necessary for program success.