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Abstract Inlet distortion, stall margin enhancement, and aeromechanic excitations such as flutter and forced response are important issues for modern day fans. These topics are often studied both experimentally and computationally. While computational models continue to advance, these issues often require time-accurate or coupled fluid-structure interactions, which can be computationally expensive. Thus, there is a need to have experimental data at engine-relevant conditions so that computational models can be developed and validated. These research topics were the motivation behind the design, build-up, and commissioning of a new fan research facility. The fan hardware, which was donated by Honeywell Aerospace, consists of an 18 in (0.46 m) transonic rotor with 22 blades and 53 stator vanes. At the design speed (near 19,000 rpm), the tip speed is approximately 1,500 ft/s (457 m/s). Power is supplied by a 3,000hp (2.2 MW) motor, and fan power is evaluated using a torquemeter and mass flow rate measurements. The mass flow rate through the machine is measured upstream of the fan with a bellmouth flowmeter, and the flow is throttled downstream of the stators. Since the rotor is representative of a small turbofan engine, the flow splits downstream of the stator for the core and bypass exhaust, and each can be independently throttled to control bypass ratio. The baseline aerodynamic performance of this research article was evaluated to lay the groundwork for future studies.
Cusator et al. (Mon,) studied this question.