Aircraft Engine Simulation for Reduced Noise, Improved Integration and Lightning Protection
Improved Turbomachinery Design Processes for an Increasingly Demanding Industry
Expected performances for modern aircraft engines have been steadily increasing. Because fuel costs are still one of the largest expenses for airlines, significant fuel efficiency improvements are required for new aircraft engine programs. In parallel, rising environmental concerns lead to new, more stringent regulations in terms of noise and gas emissions for new turbomachines.
Current market needs are pushing the aerospace propulsion industry to scale their production lines efficiently. Airline customers are facing reduced margins; new aircraft engines need not only better performance, but also to demonstrate improved maintainability, to increase their time-on-wing, and reduced development cycle cost.
Designing turbomachines for maximum performance, while verifying off-design operability and satisfying current regulations, is a multidisciplinary effort involving aerodynamic, structural, acoustic and thermal considerations. Aircraft propulsion manufacturers are scrutinizing all aspects of the aircraft engine lifecycle to support the aggressive cost reduction objectives expected by the market. This, in turn, is driving manufacturers to transform their turbomachine development processes and engineering software tools.
The capability to perform multiphysics analyses through all stages of the engineering design cycle is, therefore, of paramount necessity. The Dassault Systèmes SIMULIA portfolio offers aerodynamic, acoustic, thermal, and structural simulation capabilities with the superior connectivity of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Our simulation portfolio enables aircraft engine makers to make informed design decisions, optimize turbomachinery performance, increase certification confidence and compress their development timelines.
Although the primary focus for engine makers is performance, engine noise has been reduced for each new aircraft engine generation. In the light of many institutions like NASA, ACARE and ICAO noise disturbance will need to be further reduced to limit impact of flights on the community. As main contributors of flight noise, aircraft engine makers need to identify countermeasures to fan and jet noise to reach the ambitious target set for the future.
Dassault Systèmes and the SIMULIA brand offer a unique software package to simulate aerodynamic noise generated in the bypass area. A detailed digital model of the aircraft engine enables the generation of accurate tonal predictions, as well as all interactions leading to broadband noise, in a single simulation. The video highlights the typical analysis and insights gained using our aircraft engine noise simulation workflow.
The aircraft engine interacts with the aircraft as a system of system. Areas like Pylon, Nacelle, and thrust reverser have an impact on both entities. Solving integration issues is a complex task due to the shared responsibilities as well as the size and complexity of the model necessary. Furthermore, measurements come very late in the development and are usually part of the flight tests.
Dassault Systèmes and the SIMULIA brand offer a complete set of simulation capabilities to identify potential issues earlier in the design process and reduce costly late-stage redesign activities. Current simulation capabilities enable the analysis of crosswind influence simulation, pylon design and performance and jet/high lift interaction. The featured video summarizes a case study on a thrust reverser leveraging high fidelity flow simulation capability.
Through the service life of an engine it will likely be hit by a lightning strike once. Simulating such high-intensity electromagnetic events and dimensioning the parts accordingly to guarantee the security of the travelers is necessary to get an engine certified. Dassault Systèmes electromagnetic simulation solution CST Studio Suite covers the entire spectrum of industrial application to help adjust your design for electromagnetic events.
