Abstract
The present methodological study aims to assess boundary layer ingestion (BLI) as a promising method to improve propulsion efficiency. BLI utilizes the low momentum inflow of the wing or fuselage boundary layer for thrust generation in order to minimize the required propulsive power for a given amount of thrust for wing or fuselage-embedded engines. A multi-segment parallel compressor model (PCM) is developed to calculate the power saving from full annular BLI as occurring at a fuselage tail center-mounted aircraft engine, employing radially subdivided fan characteristics. Applying this methodology, adverse effects on the fan performance due to varying inlet distortions depending on flight operating point as well as upstream boundary layer suction can be taken into account. This marks one step onto a further segmented PCM model for general cases of BLI-induced inlet distortion and allows the evaluation of synergies between combined BLI and active laminar flow control as a drag reduction measure. This study, therefore, presents one further step towards lower fuel consumption and, hence, a lower environmental impact of future transport aircraft.
Highlights
Boundary layer ingestion (BLI) is a promising approach to improve propulsive efficiency in order to increase overall aircraft efficiency [1]
We presented an implementation of a radially segmented parallel compressor model to describe a distorted fan
The model includes radially resolved fan characteristics and is able to estimate the fans reaction to inflow conditions differing over the channel height
Summary
Boundary layer ingestion (BLI) is a promising approach to improve propulsive efficiency in order to increase overall aircraft efficiency [1]. A BLI aircraft configuration consists of engines attached to the wings or the fuselage in a such way that the boundary layer of the aircraft surface is ingested into the propulsor. The boundary layer, imposes inhomogeneous inflow conditions to the engine fans. Their impact is to be quantified in order to calculate the overall power saving of BLI. Previous studies either used costly CFD simulations, or simplified, averaged engine inflow conditions for that purpose, e.g., [2,3] both considered a Mach number averaged over the concerned boundary layer height to assess the performance of fuselage mounted engines
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