The facility will enable professors and research scholars to work on high-pressure combustion.

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) in collaboration with General Electric (GE), the American multinational firm, has established an 'Expanded Gas Turbine Combustor Testing Facility' at National Centre for Combustion Research and Development (NCCRD). This is the first such facility to come up in an academic institution globally.

The facility can test combustor designs in realistic operating conditions. The facility will enable professors and research scholars to work on high-pressure combustion and will lead to further understanding of combustion physics and cultivation of a talent pool in the field of gas turbine research.

The 'Expanded Gas Turbine Combustor Testing Facility' was inaugurated on March 31 2022. Present in the inauguration were Alok Nanda, CEO, GE India Technology Centre and CTO, GE South Asia; Vikram Reddy, general manager, engineering, India, GE Aviation; V Kamakoti, director, IIT Madras; S R Chakravarthy, coordinator, NCCRD, IIT Madras, among other faculty and researchers.

"I look at this gas turbine combustion testing facility as a national asset. Best research work happens wherever there is collaborative work, and access to funding from companies and government. This facility is an example of how to undertake research in India in a manner that makes India independent in solving problems," Nanda said.

"For the last 20 years, IIT Madras has been focusing on building Aatmanirbhar Bharat projects. The institute has a vision to train more students from below poverty line, give them access to the facilities and make them competent for the industry standards," Kamakoti said.

The NCCRD is an IIT Madras Research Centre that undertakes research on automotive, thermal power and aerospace propulsion, fire research and microgravity combustion. The institution claims that it would enable India to become 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' in Gas Turbine Combustion technology.

According to the researchers, with growing concerns over environmental pollution and increasing oil prices, it is important to build a next-generation gas turbine that is both fuel-efficient and less polluting. In a gas turbine engine, the combustor is one of the most important parts which dictate the fuel efficiency, length of the gas turbine and specifically the amount of pollutants released in the atmosphere. This new high-pressure test facility at NCCRD, IIT Madras, will bridge this gap and address this challenge.