Progress Towards Open Rotor Propulsion Technology

Royal Aeronautical Society, 21 November 2012, London

Performance and Multi-Disciplinary Design

of Contra-Rotating Open Rotors

Sébastien Guérin, Rainer Schnell, Richard Becker

German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Institute of Propulsion Technology
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An environmentally friendly and economically viable

concept
concept?
M=0.78, 35000ft
• Two-spool engine (~IAE V2500) 18
• BPR~5
• ø 1.6 m 16
~ 16% ~ 18% ~ 25%
14

TSFC (Cruise) [g/kNs]

12

10
• Two-spool engine
• Single stage HPT 8
• BPR~13.4/14.6
• ø 2.1 m
6

• Three-spool design 0
• BPR~80 Reference engine GTF CRTF CROR
• ø 4.25 m

M=0.78
T. Otten, R. Becker, A. Plohr, A. Döpelheuer; Energy efficient engine concepts, AVT-209 Workshop, 22-24 Oct. 2012, Lisbon.
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Content

Motivation

Analysis capabilities

Design capabilities incl. MDO(*)

Conclusion

Outlook
(*) Multi-Disciplinary Optimisation
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Content

Motivation

Analysis capabilities

Design capabilities incl. MDO

Conclusion

Outlook
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Analysis capabilities: engine performance and

mission analysis
Overall CROR-propulsion system
simulated with performance code
GTlab
~
Engine components are described
by performance maps retrieved
from tests and/or CFD data

Resulting engine performance

fuel consumption
altitude
decks can be linked to flight
mission analysis to assess effects
on airframe performance

distance
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Analysis capabilities: aerodynamics

CFD solver TRACE for turbomachinery flow

(RANS, URANS, linearised, phase-shift, scale-
resolving methods)

Comparison to experiments:
Thrust coefficient, ct (-)

Advance ratio, J (-) Swirl angle Coeff. cp

R. Schnell, J. Yin, S. Funke, H. Siller; Aerodynamic and basic acoustic optimization of a contra rotating open rotor with experimental
verification, AIAA 2012-2127.
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Analysis capabilities: acoustics (far-field)

Analytical modelling in code PropNoise

Numerical simulation: URANS – FWH

Experiments with phased-microphone array

Source: TsAGI
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Analysis capabilities: improved FW-H method

Spurious noise induced by vortices cutting the exit plane
Split between acoustic and aerodynamic contributions
IS1 to IS4
Sliding interface

Variation of the integration surface

OS1 to OS4
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Content

Motivations/Objectives

Analysis capabilities

Design capabilities incl. MDO

Conclusion

Outlook
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Design capabilities: AutoOpti framework

– EA+Surrogate Modelling –
Multi-Objective (MO)
3D-RANS TRACE
Objectives: Optimization
Efficiency - ADP - AutoOpti -
Acoustics - T/O

Selected individuals

URANS (TRACE):
Source Region -
UnsteadyAero
Perturbation
Blade Pressure
Nearfield

Aeroacoustics
FW-H
- Acoustic far field -
VALIDATION
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Design capabilities: aeroacoustic optimisation

Parametrisation

2D Profiles @ given streamlines 3D Blade Shape Variation

design space > 100 parameters

• 2D profiles (x5)
• 3D blade shape (stacking)
• Hub contour
• Aft-rotor clipping
• Variable pitch between OP

* R. Schnell, J. Yin, S. Funke, H. Siller; Aerodynamic and basic acoustic optimization of a contra rotating open rotor with experimental verification,
AIAA 2012-2127.
* R. Schnell, J. Yin, C. Voss, E. Nicke; Assessment and Optimization of the Aerodynamic and Acoustic Characteristics of a Counter Rotating Open
Rotor, ASME Journal of Turbomachinery Vol. 134, Nov. 2012.
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Design capabilities: aeroacoustic optimisation

Pareto front
surrogate model
activation

inc 5dB
(*)

(*) Simplified acoustic cost function: velocity perturbation in the rotor wakes
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Design capabilities: aeroacoustic optimisation

Physical effect
≈ aft rotor tip
Tip vortex strength increase
1

0.8
rel. blade height [-]

∆=10 kN
0.6

0.4

0.2
V1.1 - Initial
V2.0 - Optimized
0
axial Thrust Fx [N]

 Radial loading re-distribution Wake strength reduction

(front rotor)
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Design capabilities: aeroacoustic optimisation

Verifications
Initial V1.1 Optimized V2.0 Measured directivity (TsAGI):
Sum interaction V1.1 vs V2.0

Sound Pressure Level (dB)

∆=2.5 dB

Sum Interaction V2.0

Sum Interaction V1.1

60 80 100 120 140 160

θ°
Rig Scale – Sideline conditions
Aft-rotor blade pressure amplitudes (SS)
from front rotor-wake/blade interaction Bf+Ba
and far-field directivity (right)
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Design capabilities: trailing-edge serrations

Broadening of the wake
Reduction of interaction tones

baseline serrated TE

font-rotor wake sound power level

C. Weckmüller, S. Guérin; On the influence of trailing-edge serrations on open-rotor tonal noise, AIAA 2012-2124.
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Design capabilities: towards a „true“ acoustic cost

function
RANS-analytics coupling
Tonal and broadband noise
One common formulation for in-duct
and open problems
Application in pre-design/3D-design

About 0.5 dB (resp. 2 dB) difference

for rotor alone (resp. rotor-rotor
interaction tones) compared to
URANS-FWH

* S. Guérin, A. Moreau, C. Menzel, C. Weckmüller; Open-rotor noise prediction with a RANS informed analytical method, , AIAA 2012-2303.
* A. Moreau, S. Guérin; Similarities of the free-field and in-duct formulations in rotor noise problems, AIAA 2011-2759.
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Content

Motivations/Objectives

Analysis capabilities

Design capabilities incl. MDO

Conclusion

Outlook
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Conclusion

Multi-disciplinary design and assessment:

• engine cycle (GTlab)
• aerodynamics (TRACE, LinearTRACE)
• acoustics (FWH, PropNoise)
• but also mechanics, aeroelastics
• optimisation framework (AutoOpti)

Tools for each of the three design phases:

• concept
• pre-design
• 3D design
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Content

Motivations/Objectives

Analysis capabilities

Design capabilities incl. MDO

Conclusion

Outlook
Outlook

Validation of acoustic simulations with the help of experimental results

Fair comparison for noise to alternative concepts (SR-fan, GTF, CR-fan)
Clarify benefits and drawbacks of contra rotation
Ratio broadband to tonal noise
Integration
Acknowledgements

Christian Weckmüller, Antoine Moreau, Lars Enghardt

Eberhard Nicke
Tom Otten, Andreas Döpelheuer
Jianping Yin

European Union, AIRBUS, SN, TSAGI

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Thank you for your attention. Any questions?

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