Gooseneck Duct Partitioning to Prevent Turbomachine Flow Detachment

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Solution Overview

Problem

Aircraft turbomachines face challenges with steeply sloping swan neck geometries that increase criticality and risk aerodynamic detachment, while modifying geometric characteristics to reduce criticality significantly impacts onboard mass.

Innovation Solution

Incorporating intermediate walls between circumferentially adjacent arms in the swan neck to separate the air stream into inner and outer portions, reducing the height and guiding the air more effectively, allowing for a steeply sloping swan neck with minimal axial extension and reduced mass.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Length of moving object

If the swan neck geometry is made steeply sloping to reduce axial extension, then the onboard mass is reduced, but the criticality of the swan neck increases and aerodynamic detachment risk increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveaxial extension of swan neckVSAvoidaerodynamic detachment risk

Core Design Contradiction:

Length of moving objectVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The air stream is segmented into multiple sub-streams by introducing intermediate walls between circumferentially adjacent arms. Each sub-stream is guided through its own path defined by the arms and intermediate walls, allowing better control of flow direction and reduced aerodynamic detachment risk in the steeply sloping swan neck configuration

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Intermediate walls are introduced as intermediary elements between the arms to locally separate the air stream. These intermediate walls act as mediators that guide the flow more effectively through the constrained swan neck geometry, reducing criticality without increasing axial extension

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If the length of the swan neck is increased to reduce its slope and criticality, then the aerodynamic guidance is improved, but the onboard mass significantly increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveaerodynamic guidance qualityVSAvoidlongitudinal dimension of swan neck

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLength of moving object

Solution Approach 1:

By segmenting the air stream into sub-streams using intermediate walls, each sub-stream experiences improved aerodynamic guidance within the existing swan neck length. This allows maintaining good flow guidance quality without increasing the overall longitudinal dimension of the swan neck

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of extending the swan neck in the axial direction to improve guidance, the invention uses intermediate walls to create additional flow paths in the radial direction. This dimensional approach allows better aerodynamic guidance within the same axial length, avoiding mass increase

Inventive Principle:

Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

Data Source

PatentUS12509995B2Turbomachine subassembly comprising a gooseneck of improved configuration, and turbomachine comprising such a subassembly

Publication Date: 2025.12.30 SAFRAN AIRCRAFT ENGINES SAS

AI summary

The invention relates to an aircraft turbomachine subassembly comprising an annular duct (36) extending concentrically about a longitudinal axis and in which an air stream flows from upstream to downstream, the annular duct comprising a duct portion (28) defining a swan neck having an upstream inlet section and a downstream outlet section. A plurality of radial arms (B1, B2) extend circumferentially in the duct portion (28). One or several intermediate walls (P1, P2) extend between two circumferentially adjacent arms (B1, B2) which form a pair of circumferentially adjacent arms among the plurality of circumferentially adjacent arms so as to locally separate, between the two arms of the pair of arms, the annular duct portion (28) into a radially inner portion (Ci) and a radially outer portion (Ce) further away from the longitudinal axis than the radially inner portion.