The U.S. Navy is developing an Intercooled Recuperated (ICR) marine gas turbine, designated the WR-21, for propulsion of future surface ships. The objectives of this development program and the key technical requirements are summarized. The design of the WR-21 is described in considerable detail. Meeting all the design requirements for performance, space, weight, reliability, maintainability, and life has been challenging. Numerous design tradeoffs and iterations have been performed to optimize the design within the constraints imposed in the ICR technical specification. Integration of the WR-21 engine into the DDG51 Flight IIA ship, which is the U.S. Navy’s first application, has influenced the WR-21 design. This paper discusses the aspects of the DDG-51 application that were factored into the design of the ICR engine in order to reduce installation costs.

Issue Section:
Gas Turbines: Marine
Topics:
Design, Marine gas turbines, Ships, Engines, Flight, Maintainability, Navy, Propulsion, Reliability, Tradeoffs, Weight (Mass)
1.
Naval Sea Systems Command, “Technical Specification for the Intercooled Recuperated Gas Turbine Engine System (ICR),” N00024-91-PR-52146, 17 May 1991, with subsequent revisions.
2.
Crisalli, A. J., and Parker, M. L., “Overview of the WR-21 Intercooled Recuperated Gas Turbine Engine System—A Modern Engine for a Modern Fleet,” ASME Paper No. 93-GT-231, 1993.
3.
Carlson
R. J.
,
West
P. M.
, and
Azouz
D. E.
, “
Digital Control System Development for an Intercooled Recuperated Gas Turbine
,”
ASME JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING FOR GAS TURBINES AND POWER
, Vol.
117
,
1995
, pp.
172
–
175
.
4.
Willis, J. D., Toon, I. J., Schweiger, T., and Owen, D. A., “Industrial RB211 Dry Low Emission Combustion,” ASME Paper No. 93-GT-391, 1993.
5.
Corbett
N. C.
, and
Lines
N. P.
, “
Control Requirements for the RB 211 Low-Emission Combustion System
,”
ASME JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING FOR GAS TURBINES AND POWER
, Vol.
116
,
1994
, pp.
527
–
533
.
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