Operational performance of inlet barrier filters for rotorcraft

Abstract

Abstract This contribution addresses the subject of engine inlet barrier filters (IBF) for rotorcraft. The purpose of an IBF is to mitigate the risk of particle ingestion by the engine, a situation that can cause irrevocable damage to key components. The risk is significantly elevated during a brownout landing, in which the rotor wake of a descending helicopter interacts with loose ground sediment, causing the generation of a dust cloud. In such a condition, an IBF successfully removes particles from the engine-bound air at the expense of a pressure drop, which grows temporally. The increase in pressure drop is caused by but not limited to an increase in incident velocity and a decrease of mean particle size; however the rate may be slowed by operating the filter at a tangential angle to the flow. The current work presents findings of a parametric study into the factors affecting particle accumulation and the consequential loss of inlet total pressure.