The History and Future of the Centrifugal Compressor in Aviation Gas Turbines

The relevance of the centrifugal compressor background for this award to the early developments and current business base of the Garrett Turbine Engine Company is noted.

The development of turbo-machinery into the modern centrifugal compressor from Greek classic times to the demonstration of the first aviation gas turbines is traced.

This is followed by a description of the evolution of the current high performance centrifugal compressors found in today's engines and some of the leading research demonstrations of the past decade.

Recent developments in computer power indicate a massive increase in numerical analyses capability to full three-dimensional viscous solutions. The application of this to the future evolution of centrifugal compressor capability is discussed with projections for the improvement in performance over the next decade. The problems which limit the performance of centrifugal compressors are noted and arguments presented regarding their solutions.