Steady Performance Measurements of a Turbofan Engine With Inlet Distortions Containing Co- and Counterrotating Swirl From an Intake Diffuser for Hypersonic Flight

Abstract

The influence of distorted inlet flow on the steady and unsteady performance of a turbofan engine, which is a component of an air-breathing combined propulsion system for a hypersonic transport aircraft, is reported in this paper. The performance and stability of this propulsion system depend on the behavior of the turbofan engine. The complex shape of the intake duct causes inhomogeneous flow at the engine inlet plane, where total pressure and swirl distortions are present. The S-bend intakes are installed axisymmetrically left and right into the hypersonic aircraft, generating axisymmetric mirror-inverted flow patterns. Since all turbo engines of the propulsion system have the same direction of rotation, one distortion corresponds to a corotating swirl at the low pressure compressor (LPC) inlet while the mirror-inverted image counterpart represents a counterrotating swirl. Therefore the influence of the distortions on the performance and stability of the ‘CO’ and ‘COUNTER’ rotating turbo engine are different. The distortions were generated separately by an appropriate simulator at the inlet plane of a LARZAC 04 engine. The results of low-frequency measurements at different engine planes yield the relative variations of thrust and specific fuel consumption and hence the steady engine performance. High-frequency measurements were used to investigate the different influence of CO and COUNTER inlet distortions on the development of LPC instabilities.