Design and test of an aspirated counter-rotating fan

The design and test of a two-stage, vaneless, aspirated counter-rotating fan is presented in this paper. The fan nominal design objectives were a pressure ratio of 3:1 and adiabatic efficiency of 87%. A pressure ratio of 2.9 at 89% efficiency was measured at the design speed. The configuration consists of a counter-swirl-producing inlet guide vane, followed by a high tip speed (1450 ft/s) nonaspirated rotor and a counter-rotating low speed (1150 ft/s) aspirated rotor. The lower tip speed and lower solidity of the second rotor result in a blade loading above conventional limits, but enable a balance between the shock loss and viscous boundary layer loss; the latter of which can be controlled by aspiration. The aspiration slot on the second rotor suction surface extends from the hub up to 80% span. The bleed flow is discharged inward through the blade hub. This fan was tested in a short duration blowdown facility. Particular attention was given to the design of the instrumentation to measure efficiency to 0.5% accuracy. High response static pressure measurements were taken between the rotors and downstream of the fan to determine the stall behavior. Pressure ratio, mass flow, and efficiency on speed lines from 90% to 102% of the design speed are presented and discussed along with comparison to computational fluid dynamics predictions and design intent. The results presented here complement those presented earlier for two aspirated fan stages with tip shrouds, extending the validated design space for aspirated compressors to include designs with conventional unshrouded rotors and with inward removal of the aspirated flow.