Design and Test of an Advanced Two-Stage Centrifugal Compressor for the U.S. Army&Rsquo;s Small Heavy Fuel Engine (SHFE)

Honeywell Aerospace is developing an advanced two-stage centrifugal compressor for the U.S. Army’s Small Heavy Fuel Engine (SHFE) program to meet the engine needs of future manned and unmanned rotorcraft. These engines will demand compact, robust, stable, efficient and affordable compression systems. The SHFE compressor incorporates an advanced, fully-optimized ported shroud on the first stage compressor, for enhanced part-speed surge margin and increased overspeed flow capacity. The design further benefits from full computational fluid dynamics (CFD) optimization of all compressor components to improve engine stability and transient handling while maintaining high efficiency, without the use of surge bleed or variable geometry, all in an ultra-compact, small flow size package. This paper provides a brief overview of the SHFE program, discusses the compressor design layout and features, provides a detailed description of the compressor rig, and presents the results of compressor rig testing. The initial rig test was successful, and the compressor performance and mechanical integrity were satisfactory, with performance meeting or exceeding the fully developed SHFE goals. The resulting compressor is a producible, full-life design, with no variable geometry or surge bleed, offering state-of-the-art performance and stability.