Numerical Low-Fidelity Method for Improved Analysis of Breakthrough Aero-Propulsive Systems

This work presents an approach to evaluating the impact of Boundary Layer Ingestion (BLI) propulsion on airplane aerodynamic performance by accounting for the propulsive system environment. To that end, Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations are performed on an aero-propulsive assembly, with Body Force Modeling (BFM) used to simulate the fan stage. The configuration consists of a wing section with a ducted propulsor mounted on its suction side. The aero-propulsive performance of the assembly is analyzed for different fan rotor rotational speeds, as well as different angles of attack of the upstream flow. The distortion due to BLI is found to be still visible at the fan stage exit, creating a lateral loading. The presented numerical approach fully accounts for the aero-propulsive coupling between the airframe and the propulsor and is associated with a low CPU cost, which makes it well suited for preliminary design space explorations