Acoustic Simulations of Two-stage Fans Behind a Supersonic Inlet

NASA created, validated, and applied a high fidelity simulation toolchain for noise prediction of a fan system for a near-term civilian supersonic aircraft engine. A high fidelity inlet and multistage fan design were acquired as the basis for physics based computational studies. The overall tone noise was computed, which was used to help improve empirical models of fan inlet noise for system analysis purposes. Additional insights were gained during the study of the fan installation details and these are shared in this paper. Both overall amplitudes and variations due to design details should be of interest to engineers tasked with designing quiet fan systems for supersonic commercial aircraft. The outlook for high-fidelity simulations of aft fan noise and installation effects will also be discussed.