Calculation of intake-fan-bypass interaction with a fan similarity model

Mauro Carnevale, Feng Wang, Luca Di Mare

Research output: Chapter or section in a book/report/conference proceedingChapter in a published conference proceeding

2 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Modern trend in installation design is moving towards very high-bypass ratio turbofans. Very high-bypass turbofans represent an effective way of improving the propulsive efficiency of civil aero-engines. Such engines require larger and heavier nacelles, which partially offset the gains in specific fuel consumption. The penalty associated with a larger installation can be mitigated by adopting thinner walls for the nacelle and by shortening the intake section. Such inlet sections are characterized by more restrictive operation condition because they are more prone to separation at high incidence flight conditions. Moreover, in short nacelle installations the by-pass guide vanes and pylon are closer to the fan blades and consequently the distortion due to potential effects induced by the presence of the pylon and non-axisymmetric OGV stage play a significant role in terms of unsteady interaction in the entire system. It is mandatory to consider the inlet, fan, bypass and pylon as a unique coupled system also at the design stage, for assessment of fan force. This kind of assessment is usually carried on by expensive URANS calculation. The factors leading to high computational demands are the spatial resolution required in the fan domain and the time resolution required to sample the fan blade passing frequency. Large savings are therefore possible if simplifications are introduced which relax the resolution requirements in the fan passages and change the nature of the computation into a steady-state computation for the ducts. The present contribution documents a simplified fan model for fan-intake computations based on the solution of the double linearization problem for unsteady, transonic flow past a cascade of thin aerofoils with finite mean load. The coupling with the intake flow and the bypass is performed by using the flow patterns at fan face and fan exit as boundary conditions for the fan model and computing circumferentially nonuniform boundary conditions for the intake and the bypass from the fan model. The computation of the flow in the intake, bypass and pylon is therefore reduced to a steady problem, whereas the computation of the flow in the fan is reduced to one steady problem and a set of linearised models in the frequency domain. The model is applied to a well-documented test case and compares favourably with experimental data and much more expensive three-dimensional, time domain computations.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationTurbomachinery
PublisherAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Pages1-13
Number of pages13
Volume2C-2018
ISBN (Print)9780791851012
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2018
EventASME Turbo Expo 2018: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition, GT 2018 - Oslo, Norway
Duration: 11 Jun 201815 Jun 2018

Conference

ConferenceASME Turbo Expo 2018: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition, GT 2018
Country/TerritoryNorway
CityOslo
Period11/06/1815/06/18

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge Rolls-Royce plc. and Innovate UK for funding this work and granting permission for its publication. Authors also acknowledge Dr. Mark J. Wilson for technical support.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Engineering

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