Numerical Investigation of Particle Breakup and Ingestion into an Axial Low Pressure Compressor at Engine Icing Operating Points

Author(s):  
David L. Rigby ◽  
William B. Wright
Author(s):  
Stefan Hemmert-Pottmann ◽  
William Gouézou ◽  
Eberhard Nicke

Continuous reduction of fuel consumption for a wide range of operating conditions leads to a high efficiency demand for all engine parts of modern jet engines and especially the compressor. To meet these requirements a two-part Variable Inlet Guide Vane (VIGV), composed of a fixed strut and a variable flap, can be used. Besides the aerodynamic aspects, the VIGV strut is a substantial part for the structural integrity of the compressor. The aerodynamic design optimization of such a VIGV, located upstream of the first rotor of a 2.5 stage low pressure compressor, under the conditions of three different operating points is presented in this paper. In a previous study the shape of the axial gap between strut and flap was optimized without changing the envelope of both parts [1]. The new design tool SplitBlade, developed at the DLR, enables the creation of an axial gap and has been integrated in the design process of the in-house optimization tool AutoOpti. The target of the optimization was to decrease the total pressure loss coefficients for all three operating points. The design optimization presented in this paper is more complex by allowing the VIGV blade geometry to change. The basic dimensions of the VIGV such as the axial chord and the maximum profile thickness are still frozen. In total, 88 parameters are free to change in the optimization process. Additionally to the main target of loss reduction, the circumferential outflow angles are restricted to maintain the deflection of the blade and therewith the required rotor inflow conditions to ensure the operability of the entire compressor in the whole working range. The final result is a two-part VIGV with an axial gap, which is optimized in terms of total pressure losses in three operating points. Compared to a reference geometry without an axial gap, the losses are almost equal at nominal speed, and about one to two percentage points higher in the two part speed operating points.


Author(s):  
Laura Pacyna ◽  
Alexandre Bertret ◽  
Alain Derclaye ◽  
Luc Papeleux ◽  
Jean-Philippe Ponthot

Abstract To investigate the contact phenomenon between the blade tip and the abradable coated casing, a rig test was designed and built. This rig test fills the following constraints: simplification of the low-pressure compressor environment but realistic mechanical conditions, ability to test several designs in short time, at low cost and repeatability. The rig test gives the opportunity to investigate the behavior of different blade designs regarding the sought phenomenon, to refine and mature the phenomenon comprehension and to get data for the numerical tool validation. The numerical tool considers a 3D finite elements model of low-pressure compressor blades with a surrounding rigid casing combined with a specialized model to take into account the effects of the wear of the abradable coating on the blade dynamics. Numerical results are in good agreement with tests in terms of: critical angular speed, blade dynamics and wear pattern on the abradable coated casing.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Vanpouille ◽  
Dimitrios Papadogiannis ◽  
Stéphane Hiernaux

Abstract Surge margin is critical for the safety of aeronautical compressors, hence predicting it early in the design process using CFD is mandatory. However, close to surge, steady-state Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations are proven inadequate. Unsteady techniques such as Unsteady RANS (URANS) and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) can provide more reliable predictions. Nevertheless, the accuracy of such methods are dependent on the method used to handle the rotor/stator interfaces. The most precise method, the sliding mesh, requires simulating the full annulus or a periodic sector, which can be very costly. Other techniques to reduce the domain exist, such as the phase-lagged approach or geometric blade scaling, but introduce restrictive assumptions on the flow at near-stall conditions. The objective of this paper is to investigate the near-stall flow of a low-pressure compressor using unsteady methods of varying fidelity: URANS with the phase lag assumption, URANS on a periodic sector and a high-fidelity LES on a smaller periodic sector achieved using geometric blade scaling. Results are compared to experimental measurements. An overall good agreement is found. Results show that the tip leakage vortex is not the origin of the stall on the studied configuration and a hub corner separation is initiated. LES further validates the (U)RANS flow predictions and brings additional insight on unsteady flow separations.


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