Experimental Analysis of the Global Performance and the Flow Through a High-Bypass Turbofan in Windmilling Conditions

A detailed study of the air flow through the fan stage of a high-bypass, geared turbofan in windmilling conditions is proposed, to address the key performance issues of this severe case of off-design operation. Experiments are conducted in the turbofan test rig of ISAE, specifically suited to reproduce windmilling operation in an ambient ground setup. The engine is equipped with conventional measurements and radial profiles of flow quantities are measured using directional five-hole probes to characterize the flow across the fan stage and derive windmilling performance parameters. These results bring experimental evidence of the findings of the literature that both the fan rotor and stator operate under severe off-design angle-of-attack, leading to flow separation and stagnation pressure loss. The fan rotor operates in a mixed fashion: spanwise, the inner sections of the rotor blades add work to the flow while the outer sections extract work and generate a pressure loss. The overall work is negative, revealing the resistive loads on the fan, caused by the bearing friction and work exchange in the different components of the fan shaft. The parametric study shows that the fan rotational speed is proportional to the mass flow rate, but the fan rotor inlet and outlet relative flow angles, as well as the fan load profile, remain constant, for different values of mass flow rate. Estimations of engine bypass ratio have been done, yielding values higher than six times the design value. The comprehensive database that was built will allow the validation of 3D Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations to provide a better understanding of the internal losses in windmilling conditions.