Technology Insertion in Turbofan Engine and assessment of Architectural Complexity
Year: 2011
Editor: Eppinger, S. D., Maurer, M., Eben, K., Lindemann, U.
Author: James, D.; Sinha, K.; de Weck, O.
Section: Applications of DSM Methodology
Page(s): 407-420
Abstract
The design and development of a gas turbine engine is a highly integrated process, and requires the integration of efforts of large numbers of individuals from many design specialties. In the case that there are significant architecture changes due to technology insertion, customer requirements or component configuration for performance, integration of design efforts become more challenging. The analysis presented here compares a traditional two spool turbofan engine with a two spool engine incorporating a gear reduction between the fan and the driving spool. This is known as “Geared Turbofan” (GTF) engine architecture. The analysis presented here shows that the change in engine architecture represents a move to a more distributed and less modular architecture. The DSM shows a 20% increase in density of connectivity between components and 40% increase in terms of structural complexity. The impact of these changes suggests that the more distributed architecture of the newgeneration geared turbofan architecture likely will require more system integration effort than the traditional turbofan architecture.
Keywords: Design Structure Matrix (DSM), structural complexity, technology insertion, architectural comparison, organizational impact