Turbotech, a supplier of efficient and sustainable aviation solutions, leveraged Ansys simulation to deliver the first viable hydrogen-fueled turbine engine for small-scale passenger planes, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicles, and drones. In partnership with the BeautHyFuel project, Turbotech became the first company to successfully demonstrate a hydrogen-fueled turboprop engine, emphasizing the crucial role of Ansys simulation in advancing this next-generation technology.
Exploratory turbine designs often face challenges in safely and reliably using hydrogen as a fuel, requiring a balance of power output, fuel consumption, heat, and combustion systems service life. Turbotech adopted a scalable approach, using Ansys simulation to design and validate a fuel-agnostic gas turbine, facilitating a streamlined transition to hydrogen. Simulation-led product development allowed Turbotech to quickly identify the two best nozzle designs for real-world testing, significantly cutting prototyping costs and timelines.
Specifically, Ansys Fluent delivered critical high-fidelity predictions of the flame shape and temperature. After 30 hours of hydrogen burn, the nozzles retained nearly identical structural integrity, and the turbine did not increase emissions output. Ansys solvers also enabled Turbotech to run these simulations on boosted workstations, avoiding the need for large clusters traditionally required for combustion modeling, further demonstrating efficiency gains.
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