Off-design analysis of transonic bypass fan systems using streamline curvature through-flow method

Abstract

The two-dimensional streamline curvature through-flow modeling of turbomachinery is still a key element for turbomachinery preliminary analysis. Basically, axisymmetric swirling flow field is solved numerically. The effects of blades are imposed as sources of swirl, work input/output and entropy generation. Although the topic is studied vastly in the literature for compressors and turbines, combined modeling of the transonic fan and the downstream splitter of turbofan engine configuration, to the authors' best knowledge, is limited. In a prior study, the authors presented a new method for bypass fan modeling for inverse design calculations. Moreover, new set of practical empirical correlations are calibrated and validated. This paper is an extension of this study to rapid off-design analysis of transonic by-pass fan systems. The methodology is validated by two test cases: NASA 2-stage fan and GE-NASA bypass fan case. The proposed methodology is a simple extension for streamline curvature method and can be applied to existing compressor methodologies with minimum numerical effort.