Website of the GasTurb Inventor

Dr. Joachim Kurzke

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This software for calculating gas turbine performance has been well known in the public domain and acknowledged all over the world since 1995. In 2013 the ownership of GasTurb 12 and the accompanying software was transferred to the newly founded GasTurb GmbH in Aachen, Germany. I continued to support the further GasTurb development with my experience. Thanks to this fruitful cooperation, we were able to create an even more powerful release, named GasTurb 13. This software kept the established structure, technical standards, and engineering approach, while also introducing some enhancements to the easy-to-learn, user-friendly graphical interface.

In October 2019 GasTurb GmbH declared the end of collaboration.

Since retiring from MTU Aero Engines, I have been working as a freelancer in the field of gas turbine performance. My research interests include software with intuitive user interfaces, special graphical output formats, automatic identification of dubious inputs and results, robust algorithms, and exceptional simulation tasks. I share the results of my research on this website, and I present them at conferences, seminars, and workshops with my consulting clients.

GasTurb is now a trademark of GasTurb GmbH, Aachen, Germany

 

 

Two new turbofan engine models have recently been added to this website: the CFM56 LEAP-1A and the PW1100G-JM. Both engines are used on the Airbus A320neo. Additionally, a model of the LM2500 was added to showcase a shaft power engine. This machine's gas generator is another new engine model. It can be considered a turbojet.

In addition to the cycle design point overview, secondary air system schematic, and geometry model, Sankey diagrams are available for all engines.

Sankey and Glassman Diagrams diagrams are not widely known among gas turbine performance engineers because most performance programs do not include them in their results. However, they provide more information than enthalpy-entropy diagrams because they show the magnitude of energy and exergy flows.

My recent publications

I have presented the paper "Practice-Relevant Teaching of Gas Turbine Performance" at the GPPS conference 2025 in Shanghai. You can download both the paper and the presentation I have shown from the "My publications" page. This paper has been proposed for publication in the GPPS Journal.

The tutorial, "The Basics of Gas Turbine Off-Design Performance" is also available there. I presented it at the ASME Turbo Expo 2025 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

A tutorial dealing with gas turbine "Starting and Windmilling" is available for download free of charge from the Tutorials page.

More...

GasTurb 15 has been released. I don't have access to this program. Since 2021, I've also been denied access to GasTurb 14.

Last updated 9 March 2026

Nine realistic performance models can now be selected on the Engine Models page. These include mixed-flow and separate-flow turbofans with bypass ratios ranging from 0.4 to 12; a two-spool turboshaft for power generation; and a gas generator model of this engine that could theoretically be used as a turbojet. Geometry models derived from thermodynamic cycle data are compared to engine cross sections found online. Additionally, Sankey diagrams illustrate energy flow within the engines, making the relative importance of the various components visible. Comparing Sankey diagrams of different engines can create a "wow effect."

Overall, there is ample material for teaching gas turbine performance in a practical way based on real data of contemporary engines.

There are nine Compressor Maps and two Turbine Maps available for you to download in GasTurb and NPSS format. These maps are extended down to 1% spool speed. They are suitable for engine start and windmilling simulation.

Seven Performance Models of real engines are now available.

The history of GasTurb began in the early 1990s. I presented the first paper about it at the International Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exposition, Houston, Texas, back in June 1995. 

This is my today's version of the same figure: