Penn State’s Center for Gas Turbine Research, Education, and Outreach (founded in 2020) is based on the broad range of expertise of our faculty, existing strong partnerships with industry and government, and our desire to be at the forefront of emerging trends in aviation, power generation, and industrial sectors where gas turbines are of prime importance. For example, broader integration of renewables in the US power grid is enabled by the flexibility and adaptability of gas turbines, to ensure stability, reliability, and growth. In aviation, gas turbines power nearly all aircraft today, and the most likely near-term path toward electrified aircraft is in hybrid turbine-electric engines. Additive manufacturing has potential to significantly enhance new components as well as revolutionize maintenance and repair. These advances require focused research efforts, development of a highly trained workforce, and engagement with policymakers, industry leaders, and gas turbine users to ensure impact.
Research: Penn State has over 30 faculty working on technologies relevant to gas turbines, with more than $13M in relevant research expenditures over the past five years. In particular, we excel in executing multi-disciplinary research; several industrial and federal projects that span departments and colleges. Two major industry leaders (Pratt & Whitney, Solar Turbines) have recognized this expertise and collaborative nature by establishing centers of excellence that guarantee funding over multiple years. Penn State researchers also work with a number of other industry partners, including General Electric, Ansaldo, Siemens, Honeywell, and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Government agencies, including the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) all have multiple active research programs at Penn State in the area of gas turbine technology.
In addition to faculty expertise, Penn State has unique experimental and computational facilities to execute gas turbine research. We have access to world-class materials science research (https://www.mri.psu.edu/) and additive manufacturing facilities (http://www.cimp-3d.org/); unique combustion rigs and advanced instrumentation; the full range of turbine aero-heat transfer capabilities; multiple anechoic facilities for jet and rotor acoustic testing; state-of-the-art high performance computing facilities (https://ics.psu.edu/); and close integration with other energy/environment researchers (https://iee.psu.edu/).
Education: Penn State provides unique educational opportunities in state of the art classes as well as novel delivery platforms (online courses, industry-delivered workshops). There are more than 40 courses offered in areas relevant to gas turbines, many of which are online via Penn State’s World Campus (https://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/) in both undergraduate and graduate degree programs. We were the first university to offer a resident and online Master’s program in additive manufacturing, which has attracted many online students from gas turbine manufacturers and users. Solar Turbines has provided full-day training workshops to our graduate students on topics relevant to the gas turbine industry. Our students are front and center of our research efforts, interfacing with sponsors and developing their network with industry and government.
Outreach: Penn State faculty hold a number of strategic leadership positions on technical committees, leadership boards, and editorial positions within professional societies like the American Society of Mechanical Engineering’s Gas Turbine Segment, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Combustion Institute, and more. Faculty have lent their gas turbine expertise to study committees for the National Academy of Engineering, and report yearly to congressional committees through the Gas Turbine Association as technical experts on gas turbine issues.