Aerodynamic Shape Optimization of the STARC-ABL Concept for Minimal Inlet Distortion

Kenway, Gaetan K.; Cadieux, Francois; Kiris, Cetin C.

doi:10.2514/6.2018-1912

Cited by 31 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 23 publications

(19 reference statements)

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“…While the axisymmetric models were sufficient to establish the fundamental trends, recent aerodynamic analysis of the STARC-ABL configuration has clearly shown that three-dimensional aerodynamic models are necessary in order to accurately predict the airflow at the aft fuselage. Kenway an Kiris examined the inlet distortion for the BLI propulsor on the aft-fuselage of the STARC-ABL configuration [14], concluding that aerodynamic shape optimization reduced distortion to less than 2%. They performed optimizations of both the bare fuselage and a fuselage with wings attached (but without a vertical tail), finding that the wing downwash has a strong impact on the flow and created additional distortion not present in the fuselage only configuration.…”

Section: Fig 1 Rendering Of the Starc-abl Aircraft Configurationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is accomplished via the VSP Preprocessing component in the model, which takes a set of design variables and relates them to the actual OpenVSP model inputs. The ARP1420 Distortion component implements the distortion metric from the "Gas Turbine Engine Inlet Flow Distortion Guidelines" ARP1420 standard [33], using the scheme developed by by Kenway and Keris [14]. The metric captures the magnitude of the variation in total pressure across the fan face both circumferentially and radially using data taken from multiple sensor locations distributed across the fan face.…”

Section: A Optimization Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Aero-propulsive Design Optimization of a Turboelectric Boundary Layer Ingestion Propulsion System

Gray

Kenway²,

Mader

et al. 2018

2018 Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference

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Boundary layer ingestion is a coupled aeropropulsive technology that offers the potential for significant improvements to aircraft vehicle performance. NASA's STARC-ABL aircraft configuration is particularly interesting because it leverages boundary layer ingestion with a mostly traditional fuselage. However the design of of STARC-ABL's propulsion systems poses a challenge because the tightly coupled aeropropulsive system is not well handled by traditional uncoupled design methods. To address this we developed a fully coupled aeropropulsive design optimization of the boundary layer ingestion propulsor the STARC-ABL configuration. The integrated model was assembled in the OpenMDAO framework using a three-dimensional RANS CFD aerodynamics model and a one-dimensional thermodynamic propulsion model. The fan for the boundary layer ingestion propulsor was modeled in two parts: a body-force actuator zone is included in the aerodynamics model to produce the thrust and the thermodynamic efficiency of the fan is computed in the propulsion model. The optimization was performed using a gradient based algorithm with the necessary derivatives computed analytically using an adjoint method. The geometry for the aerodynamics model allowed for fine-shape changes of the aft-fuselage, the nacelle walls, and nozzle plug, and for variation of the nacelle diameter. The results show that variations in required thrust also result in different diameters for the optimized propulsor geometries, with fan pressure ratios staying as low as allowed.

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Section: Fig 1 Rendering Of the Starc-abl Aircraft Configurationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Optimization Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aero-propulsive Design Optimization of a Turboelectric Boundary Layer Ingestion Propulsion System

Gray

Kenway²,

Mader

et al. 2018

2018 Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference

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View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…They performed a threedimensional adjoint-based aerodynamic shape optimization of the fuselage diffuser and nacelle inlet to minimize inlet distortion at the BLI propulsor. Their results showed that the optimal nacelle and aft-fuselage shape is sensitive to design flight conditions and wing downwash [15]. Building on their previous work, Yildirim and Gray and Gray et al performed geometry optimizations of the three-dimensional NASA STARC-ABL aircraft configuration including vertical tailplane and wing [16,17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical investigation of the effects of fuselage upsweep in a propulsive fuselage concept

2021

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In recent years, aircraft concepts employing wake-filling devices to reduce mission fuel burn have gained increasing attention. The study presented here aims at a detailed physical understanding of the effects of integrating a propulsive fuselage device on a commercial aircraft. Compared to an isolated, axisymmetric fuselage-propulsor configuration, a propulsive fuselage device experiences an increased circumferential inlet distortion due to three-dimensional geometric features of the aircraft. This study uses three-dimensional CFD simulations to investigate the effect of fuselage upsweep on the aero-propulsive performance of an aircraft configuration featuring a boundary layer ingestion device. It is shown that fuselage upsweep has a negative impact on the performance of a propulsive fuselage device as compared to an axisymmetric configuration. Increasing the upsweep angle by $$\Delta \alpha _{{{\text{SW}},{\text{PFC}}}} = 3.5^\circ$$ Δ α SW , PFC = 3 . 5 ∘ leads to an increase in required fuselage fan shaft power by 19%. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the negative effects of fuselage upsweep on the propulsor’s performance can be effectively mitigated by a circumferential variation in the propulsor nacelle thickness.

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“…They found that enforcing a constraint on inlet distortion of the fan face reduced the benefits of BLI and the tradeoff between inlet distortion and BLI benefits must be studied further. Kenway and Kiris [8] performed a series of optimizations with the STARC-ABL configuration to minimize the inlet distortion on the BLI fan face. They discovered that the downwash from the wings contribute to the fan face distortion and stated that inclusion of the wings in the models are required to compute the fan face distortion accurately.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aeropropulsive Design Optimization of a Boundary Layer Ingestion System

Yildirim

Gray

Mader

et al. 2019

AIAA Aviation 2019 Forum

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Boundary layer ingestion (BLI) is a technology where the main propulsion system or an auxiliary fan is used to ingest the wake generated by the aircraft to improve aeropropulsive performance. The STARC-ABL concept introduced by NASA uses this technology with a traditional tube and wing configuration. Even though the concept is similar to conventional aircraft, design intuition is heavily limited due to the lack of previous experience with BLI. To achieve energy savings through BLI, multidisciplinary analysis and optimization tools that consider the fully coupled aeropropulsive design are required. In this work, we optimize the BLI system design of the STARC-ABL configuration at a number of net force and fan pressure ratio (FPR) values using a coupled aeropropulsive approach. The optimized designs demonstrate the increase in shaft power requirement for the BLI fan with increasing FPR values. We show that the power requirement is more sensitive to the thrust required from the BLI system, while the stagnation pressure distribution at the wake is more sensitive to FPR.

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Aerodynamic Shape Optimization of the STARC-ABL Concept for Minimal Inlet Distortion

Cited by 31 publications

References 23 publications

Aero-propulsive Design Optimization of a Turboelectric Boundary Layer Ingestion Propulsion System

Aero-propulsive Design Optimization of a Turboelectric Boundary Layer Ingestion Propulsion System

Numerical investigation of the effects of fuselage upsweep in a propulsive fuselage concept

Aeropropulsive Design Optimization of a Boundary Layer Ingestion System

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