Numerical simulations of an intake-compressor system

Abstract

Integrated propulsion plays a major role in future civil and military aircraft design. A key component of these systems are highly bent intake geometries. As the flow passes through such ducts, combined total pressure and swirl distortions are generated which have a negative impact on compressor performance, safety margin, and durability. Due to weight and space limitations, a close coupling of intake and compressor is necessary. An experimental test case including a highly bent intake geometry and a state of the art turbofan engine was established and extensive measurement data was acquired. This publication compares results of three different numerical approaches to this test data: Isolated intake simulations, isolated compressor simulations with distorted inflow conditions, and a coupled simulation of intake and three stage compressor. The isolated intake simulation is able to reproduce the static wall pressure field of the intake as well as the occurring flow separation. Towards the interface plane to the compressor however, significant deviations are observed. The upstream effect of the compressor working under the combined pressure swirl distortion is assessed via the second simulation approach. The influence of the swirl and total pressure distortion on the compressor is first simulated separately and then compared to the impact of the combined distortion. The coupled intake-compressor simulation reveals the manipulation of the intake flow field by an upstream static pressure field. In contrast to experiments a slightly unsteady operation point and an asymmetric intake flow field were observed.