Frequency-domain identification of gas turbine dynamics

The identification of the fuel flow to shaft speed dynamics of a twin-shaft gas turbine is addressed, with the aim of validating thermodynamic engine models. A measured input signal must be used in estimation in order to exclude the fuel feed dynamics from the model. This has been shown to present problems when fitting discrete models to engine data, and this paper examines the direct estimation of s-domain models in the frequency domain. A number of different multisine test signals were applied to the engine for the purposes of model estimation and nonlinear detection. The use of frequency-domain techniques is shown to produce high-quality models, and the tests also yield information on the levels of noise and nonlinearity and the length of the pure time delay. This work illustrates the potential of frequency-domain techniques for modeling systems where a physical interpretation is to be made of the model and where the need for accuracy requires that a measured input signal be used in estimation