Influence of Different Flow Solvers and Off-Design Conditions on the Determination of Fan-Rotor Wakes for Broadband Noise Prediction

The acoustic interaction of fan-rotor wakes with the downstream stator vanes is considered as an important noise source of an aircraft engine. The turbulence induced by the rotor generates a stochastic acoustic source that appears as broadband noise in the acoustic spectrum. During the preliminary design phase of an engine, established meanline and throughflow solvers usually do not resolve turbulence and associated unsteady flow parameters. But such solvers provide rotor pressure losses that can be used to estimate the mean and turbulent rotor wakes. A crucial step is the deduction of turbulence parameters from the mean wakes. A semi-empirical model for rotor-wake turbulence estimation is presented in this paper. The meanline method and the throughflow solver are compared to three-dimensional computational flow simulations investigating the capabilities of the different solvers to provide flow data for broadband wake interaction noise prediction. The methods are applied to a representative modern fan stage at a comprehensive number of operating points, comprising several speed lines from surge to choking conditions. Microphone measurements are consulted to assess the noise predictions. The evaluation confirms the applicability of the meanline and throughflow method in combination with the turbulence model for broadband noise estimation during the preliminary design phase. The underestimated turbulence in the tip region of the fan is found to be negligible even during off-design conditions.