Microphone Sensing of Fan Face Distrotion
Preliminary studies of the next generation mobility aircraft have produced aircraft designs with high bypass turbofan engines embedded in the wings, a configuration that will place high demands on the inlet design. It has already been considered that an active flow control system will likely be necessary in order to maintain acceptable distortion levels at the fan face of the engines. In order to be effective, an accurate and non-intrusive inlet distortion measurement system must be available. The work studied in this Phase I SBIR investigates three acoustic-based sensing schemes designed to meet this need. Experiments were performed using a serpentine inlet coupled to a 4" turbofan simulator. Each of the three sensing schemes showed some promise for accurately estimating the distortion level. A number of recommendations were developed for improving the technology including improvements in instrumentation and data processing as well as detailed Phase II development plan.
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Techsburg's BLI Inlet Test Facility
