The latest engine technologies, which are about to enter into service around 2025 via the new generation of engines of for new Aircraft (Short range or Long range), will offer a substantial specific fuel consumption (SFC) improvement of 15-17% compared with reference EIS 2000 technology. Those benefits have mainly been achieved by successively improving engine component and cycle efficiency, based on increased overall pressure ratio (OPR = 40) and by-pass ratio (BPR = 10 to 12). New light weight and reduction gearbox technologies are key enablers for the mentioned cycle improvements.
Increasing the by-pass ratio for turbofans further towards UHBR technology (BPR between 12 and 20) is expected to bring substantial additional SFC improvement comparable or even superior to the expected gain of CROR technologies. The use of innovative technologies such as new light weight materials, allows a shift to higher values of the optimal BPR value of HBR or UHBR engines which is driven by a compromise between propulsive efficiency, aerodynamic drag and weight.
However, the integration of UHBR engines under the wing is a challenge. Indeed, because of the size of these engines tremendous interactions occur with other aircraft components such as the nacelle, the pylon, the wing or the high-lift devices.
In this context, the overall objective of the ASPIRE project is to demonstrate to ability of existing numerical and experimental methods to accurately assess the aerodynamic and acoustic performance of such configurations thanks to a reliable modelling of fan/airframe physical interactions. In more details, the technical objectives are:
1. Design generic fan/OGV combinations representative of future UHBR engine;
2. Demonstrate the ability of CFD codes (NLR ENFLOW , ONERA elsA, DLR TAU, DLR TRACE) to predict aerodynamic performance of aircraft equipped with UHBR engines;
3. Demonstrate the ability of aero-acoustic methods to predict aeroacoustic performance of aircraft equipped with UHBR engines;
4. Identify and assess the experimental capabilities for the characterization of UHBR installation noise sources.