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Relative to in-service aero-engines, the bypass ratio of future civil architectures may increase further. If traditional design rules are applied to these new configurations and the housing components are scaled, then it is expected that the overall weight, nacelle drag and the effects of aircraft integration will increase. For this reason, the next generation of civil turbofan engines may use compact nacelles to maximise the benefits from the new engine cycles. The purpose of this paper is to present a multi-level design and optimisation process for future civil aero-engines.

An initial set of multi-point, multi-objective optimisations for axisymmetric configurations are carried out to identify the trade-off between intake and fancowl bulk parameters of highlight radius and nacelle length on nacelle drag. Having identified the likely optimal part of the design space, a set of computationally expensive optimisations for three-dimensional non-axisymmetric configurations is performed. The process includes cruise- and windmilling-type operating conditions to ensure aerodynamic robustness of the downselected configurations.

Relative to a conventional aero-engine nacelle, the developed process yielded a compact aero-engine configuration with mid-cruise drag reduction of approximately 1.6% of the nominal standard net thrust.

The multi-point, multi-objective optimisation is carried out with a mixture of regression and classification functions to ensure aerodynamic robustness of the downselected configurations. The developed computational approach enables the optimisation of future civil aero-engine nacelles that target a reduction of the overall fuel consumption.

Aerodynamic shape optimisation is complex because of the high dimensionality of the problem, the associated non-linearity and its large computational cost. These three aspects have an impact on the overall time of the design process. To overcome these challenges, this paper aims to develop a method for transonic aerodynamic design with dimensionality reduction and multifidelity techniques.

The developed methodology is used for the optimisation of an installed civil ultra-high bypass ratio aero-engine nacelle. As such, the effects of airframe-engine integration are considered during the optimisation routine. The active subspace method is applied to reduce the dimensionality of the problem from 32 to 2 design variables with a database compiled with Euler computational fluid dynamics (CFD) calculations. In the reduced dimensional space, a co-Kriging model is built to combine Euler lower-fidelity and Reynolds-averaged Navier stokes higher-fidelity CFD evaluations.

Relative to a baseline aero-engine nacelle derived from an isolated optimisation process, the proposed method yielded a non-axisymmetric nacelle configuration with an increment in net vehicle force of 0.65% of the nominal standard net thrust.

This work investigates the viability of CFD optimisation through a combination of dimensionality reduction and multifidelity method and demonstrates that the developed methodology enables the optimisation of complex aerodynamic problems.

Insight in the temperature distribution on the internal and external surface of the nacelle is of great importance during the design phase of an aircraft. However, detailed information is not always needed. In a preliminary project stage or during parametric optimization, short analysis times are often more crucial than high accuracy. In such cases, the global insight in the temperature levels suffices to gain understanding of the relevance and influence of certain parameters. Nevertheless, estimating the maximum temperature for the most adverse conditions should also be done before a prototype is built. Therefore, this study aims to present and compare a simplified and an advanced methodology for the analysis of engine bay cooling and ventilation systems as well as heat transfer in the nacelle in a small airplane equipped with a turboprop engine in the tractor arrangement.

Both approaches included conductive, convective and radiative heat transfer in the engine bay of the small airplane I-23 as well as heat conduction in the nacelle made of material with anisotropic thermal conductivity. The one-dimensional (1D) model assumed that the nacelle with the air flow and engine was represented by a lumped thermal model in which heat was exchanged between the different lumped segments (the nodes) and the flowing air and engine. The three-dimensional (3D) model was based on the continuous control volume approach for heat, fluid flow and thermal radiation as well as on realizable k-ε turbulence model. Both models used commercial software.

The temperature distribution at the internal and external surface of the top nacelle was calculated. The 1D model predicted a temperature per node (per segment) while the 3D model was able to determine its values accurately and find the location of hot spots. Considering the complex geometry of the engine bay and nacelle and the assumed simplification, the obtained 1D and 3D results agreed quite well.

Both models will help in the development of new ventilation and cooling systems of the engine bay and nacelle as well as in the selection of materials for parts of the top cowling in the newly redesigned airplane I-23 equipped with a turboprop engine. In addition, the methodology presented in this paper might be applied in the development of other airplanes.

The 1D and 3D models of complex heat transfer inside the engine bay and in the nacelle of the newly re-designed airplane I-23 were elaborated and compared.

The overall performance of an aerial vehicle strongly depends on the specifics of the propulsion system and its position relative to the other components. The purpose of paper is this factor can be characterized by changing several contributing parameters, such as distance from the ground, fuselage and wing as well as the nacelle outlet velocity and analyzing the aerodynamic performance.

Navier–Stokes equations are discretized in space using finite volume method. A KW-SST model is implemented to model the turbulence. The flow is assumed steady, single-phase, viscous, Newtonian and compressible. Accordingly, after validation and verification against experimental and numerical results of DLRF6 configuration, the location of the propulsion system relative to configuration body is examined.

At the nacelle outlet velocity of V/V_inf = 4, the optimal location identified in this study delivers 16% larger lift to drag ratio compared to the baseline configuration.

Altering the position of the propulsion system along the longitudinal direction does not have a noticeable effect on the vehicle performance.

Aerial vehicles including wing-in-ground effect vehicles require thrust to fly. Generating this necessary thrust for motion and acceleration is thoroughly affected by the vehicle aerodynamics. There is a lack of rigorous understanding of such topics owing to the immaturity of science in this area. Complexity and diversity of performance variables for a numerical solution and finding a logical connection between these parameters are among the related challenges.

The purpose of this study is to developed a simplified thermo-fluid model of an engine cowling in a small airplane. An aircraft engine system is composed of different elements operating at various temperatures and in conjunction with the composite nacelle creates a region with high intensity of heat transfer to be covered by the cooling/ventilation systems. Therefore a thermal analysis, accounting for the complex heat transfer modes, is necessary in order to verify that an adequate cooling is ensured and that temperatures of the nacelle are maintained within the operating limits throughout the whole aircraft's flight.

Simplified numerical simulations of conductive, convective and radiative heat transfer in the engine bay of the small airplane I-23 in a tractor arrangement were performed for different air inlet and outlet configurations and for varying conditions existing in air inlets during the flight. The model is based on the control volume approach for heat and fluid flow as well as for thermal radiation and on k-ɛ turbulence model.

The flow and temperature distributions inside the cowling were determined, and high-temperature spots on the internal side of the nacelle and on other airplane systems located close to the turboprop engine and the exhaust system were found. The thermal radiation was found to play the key role in heat transfer inside the engine bay. The optimal configuration of air inlets and outlets was determined.

The obtained results will help in future studies on ventilation and cooling systems and will contribute to the selection of materials for parts of the engine bay and the nacelle as well as in developing solutions for reducing the temperature inside the cowling of the airplane I-23.

A complete simplified thermo-fluid model of heat transfer inside the engine bay of the airplane I-23 was developed. Additionally, influence of the thermal radiation on temperature distribution at the nacelle was investigated.

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the preliminary design and optimization of the air-intake system and the engine nacelle. The work was conducted as part of an integration process of a turboprop engine in a small aircraft in a tractor configuration.

The preliminary design process was performed using a parametric, interactive design approach. The parametric model of the aircraft was developed using the PARADES™ in-house software. The model assumed a high level of freedom concerning shaping all the components of aircraft important from the point of view of the engine integration. Additionally, the software was used to control the fulfillment of design constraints and to analyze selected geometrical properties. Based on the developed parametric model, the preliminary design was conducted using the interactive design and optimization methodology. Several concepts of the engine integration were investigated in the process. All components of the aircraft propulsion system were designed simultaneously to ensure their compliance with each other.

The concepts of the engine integration were modified according to changes in the design and technological constraints in the preliminary design process. For the most promising configurations, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) computations were conducted using commercial Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes solver FLUENT™ (ANSYS). The simulations tested the flow around the nacelle and inside the air-delivery system which consists of the air-intake duct, the foreign-particles separator and the auxiliary ducts delivering air to the cooling and air-conditioning systems. The effect of the working propeller was modeled using the Virtual Blade Model implemented in the FLUENT code. The flow inside the air-intake system was analyzed from the point of view of minimization of pressure losses in the air-intake duct, the quality of air stream delivered to the engine compressor and the effectiveness of the foreign particles separator.

Based on results of the CFD analyses, the final concept of the turboprop engine integration has been chosen.

The presented results of preliminary design process are valuable to achieve the final goal in the ongoing project.

Under this heading are published regularly abstracts of all Reports and Memoranda of the Aeronautical Research Council, Reports and Techical Memoranda of the United States National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and publications of other similar Research Bodies as issued

In UK patent 2274490 Short Brothers plc describes an aircraft propulsive power unit. It comprises a nacelle structure housing an engine and having a forward nacelle portion and a rearward nacelle portion. The forward nacelle portion includes an intake opening leading to an intake barrel upstream of the engine for the supply of intake air to the engine. It also has a substantially uninterrupted low drag exterior surface. The power unit includes a structure to support the forward nacelle portion while permitting it to be moved axially from an operational position adjoining the rearward nacelle portion to a forward position to provide access to components of the power unit which are inaccessible with the forward nacelle portion in the operational position. The leading edge of the forward nacelle portion may comprise lip‐skin edges and latching and locating means may be provided. Guide assemblies incorporating track elements and a rack and pinion drive mechanism may also be provided.

THE Rainbow is the commercial adaptation of the XF‐12 photographic aeroplane the Republic Aviation Corporation completed for the Army Air Forces. In 1943, the Photographic Section of the A.A.F. issued specifications for a new multi‐engined, long‐range, high‐speed, reconnaissance aeroplane to fly at very high altitudes. The required performance was so much beyond anything in existence at the time that it posed a real problem to designers of high performance aeroplanes. Republic engineers, who for years had specialized in high‐altitude, high‐speed pursuit planes, eagerly accepted the challenge. After exhaustive studies it was found that the performance required by the specification could only be met with a four‐engined machine using Pratt and Whitney R‐4360 engines, supercharged to carry full military power to 40,000 ft. Other combinations would either fail in speed, or in range, or in desired rate of climb or ceiling. A proposal based on four 4360 engines was submitted to the A.A.F., and in March 1944, the Company was awarded a contract for two XF‐12 aircraft. The first prototype was completed in December, 1945, and made its first flight on February 4, 1946.

Novel aircraft propulsion configurations require a greater integration of the propulsive system with the airframe. As a consequence of the closer integration of the propulsive system, higher levels of flow distortion at the fan face are expected. This distortion will propagate through the fan and penalize the system performance. This will also modify the exhaust design requirements. This paper aims to propose a methodology for the aerodynamic optimization of the exhaust for novel embedded propulsive systems. To model the distortion transfer, a low order throughflow fan model is included.

As the case study a 2D axisymmetric aft-mounted annular boundary layer ingestion (BLI) propulsor is used. An automated computational fluid dynamics approach is applied with a parametric definition of the design space. A throughflow body force model for the fan is implemented and validated for 2D axisymmetric and 3D flows. A multi-objective optimization based on evolutionary algorithms is used for the exhaust design.

By the application of the optimization methodology, a maximum benefit of approximately 0.32% of the total aircraft required thrust was observed by the application of compact exhaust designs. Furthermore, for the embedded system, it is observed that the design of the compact exhaust and the nacelle afterbody have a considerable impact on the aerodynamic performance.

This paper presents a novel approach for the exhaust design of embedded propulsive systems in novel aircraft configurations. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first detailed optimization of the exhaust system on an annular aft-mounted BLI propulsor.