Start Up Contribution: E2 Engine

Jan 7, 2025 ・ 2 min read

🚀 E2 Engine & My Contribution

E2 Engine is an innovative startup developing a turbomachinery-led hydrogen engine, currently in the Validation Lab at YES!Delft, TU Delft's leading startup incubator.
From November 2024 to January 2025, I joined the team as a side project, playing a key role in the validation phase; I collaborated with the internal R&D team to establish a proof of concept for the innovative combustion system. This involved ANSYS Fluent CFD analysis, turbine blade shape optimization, and fuel-injection modeling to assess the feasibility of the technology.

🔬 Key Engineering Tasks:

➡️ Proof of Concept Development: Simulated the axial turbine system to determine its power generation potential.
➡️ CFD-Based Turbine Blade Optimization: Designed and tested multiple blade configurations in ANSYS Fluent, refining the shape for maximum aerodynamic efficiency.
➡️ ANSYS Fluent vs. ANSYS CFX Comparison: Cross-validated simulation results between the two solvers to ensure accuracy.
➡️ CAD Design & Integration: Modeled critical components in SolidWorks for structural analysis and system integration.

📊 CFD Analysis

A significant part of my contribution focused on CFD to evaluate the efficiency of the hydrogen-powered turbine. The simulations provided insights into key performance indicators such as:

➡️ Velocity Profiles & Flow Streamlines: Ensured uniform flow distribution and minimized turbulence-induced losses.
➡️ Blade Pressure Distribution: Identified high-stress zones and optimized the curvature of the turbine blades.
➡️ Velocity Distributions: Extrapolated velocities of the stream after it approaches the rotor turbines.

📖 More Readings

Hydrogen combustion in gas turbines is an evolving field with significant research efforts worldwide. Below are some of the key academic papers and resources that provide deeper insights: