Fan tonal noise from aircraft aeroengines with short intake: A study at approach

Abstract

This work assesses the risks of increased fan noise for high bypass ratio aeroengines with short intakes. The close proximity between the fan and inlet contributes to the increase in radiation of the rotor-alone tones and reinforces the interaction of the inflow distortion with the fan. Thus, the closer the fan is to the inlet, the higher the risk for noise generation. This article discusses the results of Harmonic Balance simulations performed on a conceptual turbofan operated at the approach condition. The inflow distortion created by the nacelle incidence is dominated by the circumferential component [Formula: see text] = 1. Its presence is visible throughout the nacelle. A thorough analysis of the unsteady pressure and velocity fields shows that the new acoustic source created by the periodic unsteady loading of the rotor cutting the inflow distortion is negligible compared to the rotor–stator interaction. But the amplitude of the rotor–stator interaction tones is affected by the unsteadiness of the rotor wake shape, particularly in the tip region where a pronounced flow separation on the rotor blade is created at a certain range of azimuthal position. The variations of the flow incidence at the rotor leading edge, due to the axial and tangential components of the mean velocity, cannot explain that flow separation. Instead, the origin is attributed to the azimuthal variations of the radial component of the mean flow velocity near the casing which slightly points inward to the spinner, i.e. in the opposite direction of the casing contour line. The flow separation induces a pronounced scattering of the wake azimuthal components mw =  hB into [Formula: see text] in the tip region, whereas the same effect is rather limited on the rest of the blade height. This leads to a moderate increase of the tonal sound power level compared to the case with clean inflow. The azimuthal scattering due to the propagation of the sound waves through the distortion is found to be weak in the bypass duct. However, this effect is very important in the inlet lip vicinity, where the strong asymmetry of the flow modifies the path of the sound waves up to the far field.