Effect of Distortion on Turbofan Tonal Noise at Cutback with Hybrid Methods

New ultra high bypass ratio architectures may significantly affect the fan tonal noise of future aircraft engines. Indeed, such a noise source is supposed to be dominated by the interaction of fan-blade wakes with outlet guide vanes. However, shorter nacelles in these engines are expected to trigger an important air-inlet distortion that can be responsible for new acoustic sources on the fan blades. Full annulus simulations based on the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are presently used to study this effect. Simulation results show that the air-inlet distortion has a main effect in the fan-tip region, leading to a strong variation of the fan-blade unsteady loading. It also significantly modifies the shape of the fan-blade wakes and, consequently, the unsteady loading of the outlet guide vanes. Acoustic predictions based on the extension of Goldstein's analogy to an annular duct in a uniform axial flow are presented and show that the fan sources notably contribute to the fan tonal noise. The air-inlet distortion is responsible for an increase of the noise radiated by both the fan and the outlet guide vane sources, leading to a global noise penalty of up to three decibels.