Overview of the WR-21 Intercooled Recuperated Gas Turbine Engine System: A Modern Engine for a Modern Fleet

Abstract

An overview description of the WR-21 Intercooled Recuperated Gas Turbine Engine System (ICR), currently being designed, built and tested for the U.S. Navy Surface Fleet is presented. The paper describes a development program which reduces development risk and results in a modem, affordable engine that reduces propulsion fuel costs by 30 percent. Major system components and their functions are outlined. Environmental and performance requirements are discussed together with trade-offs which lead to the current configuration as the best combination of cost, performance, reliability, maintainability and other attributes. Then the configuration design is presented. A key to the low-risk design is commonality with the commercial RB211 aircraft engine family. Inherited from the RB211 modular engine are the flexible ICR maintenance features. Modularity also allows mixing and matching to achieve a variety of engines ranging up to 37.3 MW (50,000 bhp). Finally, the ship integration aspects of the WR-21 are discussed.