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Dust Ingestion in a Rotorcraft Engine Compressor: Experimental and Numerical Study of the Fouling Rate

Authors :
Alessandro Vulpio
Alessio Suman
Nicola Casari
Michele Pinelli
Source :
Aerospace, Vol 8, Iss 3, p 81 (2021)
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2021.

Abstract

Helicopters often operate in dusty sites, ingesting huge amounts of contaminants during landing, take-off, hover-taxi, and ground operations. In specific locations, the downwash of the rotor may spread soil particles from the ground into the environment and, once ingested by the engine, may stick to the compressor airfoils. In the present work, the Allison 250 C18 engine’s multistage axial-flow compressor is employed to study the fouling rate on rotor blades and stator vanes from both numerical and experimental standpoints. The compressor is operated in a typical ground-idle operation, in terms of the rotational regime and contaminant concentration, in laboratory-controlled conditions. The mass of deposits is collected from the airfoil surfaces at the end of the test and compared to that estimated through the numerical model. The experimental test shows that the airfoils collect almost 1.6% of the engine’s total mass ingested during a ground-idle operation. The capability of numerical methods to predict the fouling rate on the rotating and stationary airfoils of a multistage compressor is tested through the implementation of literature based deposition models. Sticking models show a good agreement in terms of the relative results; nevertheless, an overestimation of the deposited mass predicted is observed.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
22264310
Volume :
8
Issue :
3
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Aerospace
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.265b3f7c4a4f849faca7334b2f43e0
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace8030081