Effect of a Vortex Distortion on the Operability of an Ultra High Bypass Ratio Fan

Inlet distortion can significantly impact turbofan operability. In the present contribution, the focus is on vortex ingestion, which is a type of distortion that has received less attention in the literature for high-bypass-ratio fans of civil engines than in- let separation or boundary layer ingestion. Due to the unsteady and non-axisymmetric nature of the inflow, full annulus computations are performed, using an unsteady RANS approach with a sliding mesh interface between the rotor and the stator. The goal is to provide a detailed analysis and understanding of the mechanisms responsible for operability loss when a vortex is ingested by the fan. To that end, a simplified model of vortex is derived from previous simulations in crosswind conditions including the presence of the ground plane. The study test case is a turbofan demonstrator representative of modern turbofans. Simulations are run with and without vortex at several operating points until rotating stall is observed. The global results show that the vortex ingestion induces a stall margin loss of up to 8%. Modal analysis indicates a stall pattern with 10 cells rotating at somewhere between 52 and 67% of the shaft speed. A comparison of the two configurations shows that the stall inception mechanism is similar with and without distortion. In particular, examining the incidence at the fan blade, a similar critical angle is observed for the two configurations, which is leveraged to establish a stall criterion valid for vortex ingestion cases.