Session: 01-05 Inlet Distortion and Engine Operability I

Paper Number: 128869

128869 - Coupled Design of Multi-Component Distortion-Generating Devices for Aircraft Engine Ground Tests – Part I: Design Methodology and Numerical Validation 

Advanced aircraft engine configurations such as Ultra High Bypass Ratio (UHBR) engines with short nacelle layouts, Blended Wing Bodies (BWB), or Boundary Layer Ingestion (BLI) configurations experience much higher levels of flow distortion at the fan inlet compared to current configurations. Since engine performance, operability and vibration can be drastically affected by the non-uniformity of the inlet flow, extensive testing is an essential part of the design process in order to assess engine-airframe incompatibilities. Distortion-generating devices are used to create relevant total pressure and swirl distortion cartographies in such test environments. Wire mesh screens or elementaryswirl vane assemblies have long been used to reproduce simple, generic patterns, but they lack the flexibility and accuracy for the complex patterns expected in future aircraft engine configurations.  

This two-part paper presents the development of a numerical design methodology and the experimental validation of distortion-generating screens that are: a) capable of reproducing complex steady combined total pressure and swirl angle distortion patterns at a predefined distance downstream of the distortion screens, thus taking into account the coupling between the devices and the effect of the downstream propagation up to the target plane, b) manufacturable using 3D printing to provide a high degree of flexibility, and c) compliant with prescribed test rig operability constraints. 

The first part of the paper describes the numerical design methodology for a honeycomb total pressure screen and a swirl vane assembly. Preliminary design tools have been successfully developed for both total pressure screens and swirl vane assemblies, and combined afterwards in a global surrogate-assisted optimisation strategy that exploits Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and machine learning techniques. Four different sets of screens have been designed matching the respective target patterns: one honeycomb total pressure screen, one swirl vane assembly, and two devices consisting of a coupling of the two components. For each design the total pressure and/ or swirl distortion patterns are enforced as objectives, and subject to constraints from the operating conditions of the test facility as well as manufacturing constraints. The different total pressure and swirl vane designs are presented and validated using  a numerical simulation, as well as a structural assessment of the swirl device screen. The experimental testing of the screens and a cross-comparison between design and experimental tests is discussed in the second part of this paper. 

Presenting Author: Julissa Grondin Cenaero

Presenting Author Biography: Graduation from Ecole Centrale de Lyon in 2014, with a major on Aircraft Propulsion.
From 2015 to 2019, PhD in partnership with Safran Tech and Laboratoire de Mécanique des Fluides et d’Acoustique (LMFA), on the subject of aerodynamic instabilities in centrifugal compressors.
Since 2019, working at Cenaero in the Turbomachinery Design team.

Authors:

Julissa Grondin Cenaero
Michaël Leborgne Cenaero
Lieven Baert Cenaero
Ingrid Lepot Cenaero
Alexandre Gouttière Cadence Design Systems Belgium
Donavan Dieu Cadence Design Systems Belgium
Dirk Wunsch Cadence Design Systems Belgium
Elissavet Boufidi Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics
Manas Madasseri Payyappalli Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics
Fabrizio Fontaneto Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics
Tony Spriet Safran Aircraft Engines
Jérôme Talbotec Safran Aircraft Engines