Wind Tunnel Testing of a Nacelle Bypass Concept for a Quiet Supersonic Aircraft
By: Yong Han Yeong
Advisers: Dr. Michael B. Bragg and Dr. Gregory S. Elliott
M.S., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009
ABSTRACT
Sonic boom attenuation is a considerable design challenge to enable civilian aircraft to
operate at supersonic
ight conditions. One technology proposed by Gulfstream Aerospace
Corporation for the production of low-noise supersonic aircraft is the high-fl
ow nacelle
bypass concept in which an outer nacelle surface is used to encircle the asymmetric external
engine protuberances of a traditional turbine engine. Although this bypass
flow may reduce
the overall sonic boom signature of the vehicle, the engine gearbox and protuberances create
a highly complex 3-D
flow in the annular bypass region. To better understand the 3-D flow features, an approximately 1/6th engine model was tested in a newly constructed 11.1 inch
diameter axisymmetric test section of a subsonic wind tunnel at the University of Illinois
at Urbana Champaign. By rotating the test section, pressure measurements were obtained
over a range of circumferential angles and radial positions. The pressure measurements were
used to create planar maps of nondimensionalized total and dynamic pressure upstream
and downstream of the bypass model. Wind tunnel testing was performed on the empty
axisymmetric wind tunnel followed by model configurations of increasing complexity until a
full test configuration of the engine model with the gearbox fairing and crane beam mounts
was achieved. Results show significant pressure loss behind the gearbox fairing further
characterized using surface
flow visualization. Due to the blockage created by the gearbox
fairing mounted at the underside of the model, results also show increased fl
ow velocity in
the upper section of the bypass duct.