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Statement of Task
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will convene an ad hoc committee to identify high-priority opportunities for improving and creating advanced technologies that can be introduced into the design and manufacture of gas turbine engines to substantially accelerate improvements to performance (e.g., efficiency and life-cycle cost). The committee will determine the state of development that could be achieved by 2030. Gas turbine applications of particular interest are as follows:
- Combined cycle gas turbines to generate electrical power, such as:
- Large, stationary turbines to power the electrical grid
- Simple cycle gas turbines to generate electrical and mechanical power, such as:
- Large, stationary turbines to power the electrical grid
- Stationary turbines of various sizes to support oil and gas production and transmission
- Gas turbines for commercial and military aircraft propulsion
The priority of specific advanced technologies shall be based on their breadth of application, the degree of improvement for individual applications, the timeliness with which the technologies could be matured, and other factors to be determined by the committee. The scope of the study shall include compressors, combustion systems, expanders, bearings, seals, instrumentation, and digital twins (i.e., virtual copies of operational gas turbines). In identifying high-priority opportunities for developing advanced technologies of interest, the committee shall consider the performance of current gas turbines and gas turbine components for the applications listed above, the state of the art of relevant manufacturing technologies, and ongoing efforts to develop advanced manufacturing technologies.