Aerodynamics and Power Balance of a Distributed Aft-Fuselage Boundary Layer Ingesting Aircraft

This paper presents a first investigation into the aerodynamics and performance breakdown of a distributed aft-fuselage boundary layer ingesting (BLI) tube-and-wing aircraft using fully coupled Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) calculations that resolve the complete fan and installati...

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Main Authors: Tze Sing Tse, Cesare A. Hall
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-01-01
Series:Aerospace
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/10/2/122
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author Tze Sing Tse
Cesare A. Hall
author_facet Tze Sing Tse
Cesare A. Hall
author_sort Tze Sing Tse
collection DOAJ
description This paper presents a first investigation into the aerodynamics and performance breakdown of a distributed aft-fuselage boundary layer ingesting (BLI) tube-and-wing aircraft using fully coupled Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) calculations that resolve the complete fan and installation geometries. Through the URANS simulations, the interaction between the turbulence from the fuselage boundary layer (BL) and the BLI propulsor is identified as an area that warrants further research. Using the URANS approach, the ingested turbulence leads to a 4.5% reduction in the propulsor stage total–total isentropic efficiency. A mechanical power balance has been drawn up to compare the power sources and sinks throughout the installation and propulsor for two test cases with different thicknesses of ingested BL. The test case with a thinner BL was found to generate significantly more dissipation in the BL development upstream of the propulsor, the flow separation over the outer cowl, and the interaction between the reversed flow over the cowl and the propulsor exhaust jet. Due to this increase in dissipation, the case with thinner ingested BL consumes 7% more power relative to a baseline case with thicker BL, representative of the upstream fuselage at cruise. This demonstrates the importance of matching the installation with the incoming fuselage BL.
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spelling doaj.art-832b9d45bf1e40679207e4da301a26062023-11-16T18:26:53ZengMDPI AGAerospace2226-43102023-01-0110212210.3390/aerospace10020122Aerodynamics and Power Balance of a Distributed Aft-Fuselage Boundary Layer Ingesting AircraftTze Sing Tse0Cesare A. Hall1Whittle Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0DY, UKWhittle Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0DY, UKThis paper presents a first investigation into the aerodynamics and performance breakdown of a distributed aft-fuselage boundary layer ingesting (BLI) tube-and-wing aircraft using fully coupled Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) calculations that resolve the complete fan and installation geometries. Through the URANS simulations, the interaction between the turbulence from the fuselage boundary layer (BL) and the BLI propulsor is identified as an area that warrants further research. Using the URANS approach, the ingested turbulence leads to a 4.5% reduction in the propulsor stage total–total isentropic efficiency. A mechanical power balance has been drawn up to compare the power sources and sinks throughout the installation and propulsor for two test cases with different thicknesses of ingested BL. The test case with a thinner BL was found to generate significantly more dissipation in the BL development upstream of the propulsor, the flow separation over the outer cowl, and the interaction between the reversed flow over the cowl and the propulsor exhaust jet. Due to this increase in dissipation, the case with thinner ingested BL consumes 7% more power relative to a baseline case with thicker BL, representative of the upstream fuselage at cruise. This demonstrates the importance of matching the installation with the incoming fuselage BL.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/10/2/122boundary layer ingestion (BLI)turbomachinerydistributed propulsionmechanical power balance
spellingShingle Tze Sing Tse
Cesare A. Hall
Aerodynamics and Power Balance of a Distributed Aft-Fuselage Boundary Layer Ingesting Aircraft
Aerospace
boundary layer ingestion (BLI)
turbomachinery
distributed propulsion
mechanical power balance
title Aerodynamics and Power Balance of a Distributed Aft-Fuselage Boundary Layer Ingesting Aircraft
title_full Aerodynamics and Power Balance of a Distributed Aft-Fuselage Boundary Layer Ingesting Aircraft
title_fullStr Aerodynamics and Power Balance of a Distributed Aft-Fuselage Boundary Layer Ingesting Aircraft
title_full_unstemmed Aerodynamics and Power Balance of a Distributed Aft-Fuselage Boundary Layer Ingesting Aircraft
title_short Aerodynamics and Power Balance of a Distributed Aft-Fuselage Boundary Layer Ingesting Aircraft
title_sort aerodynamics and power balance of a distributed aft fuselage boundary layer ingesting aircraft
topic boundary layer ingestion (BLI)
turbomachinery
distributed propulsion
mechanical power balance
url https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/10/2/122
work_keys_str_mv AT tzesingtse aerodynamicsandpowerbalanceofadistributedaftfuselageboundarylayeringestingaircraft
AT cesareahall aerodynamicsandpowerbalanceofadistributedaftfuselageboundarylayeringestingaircraft