Turning Vane Improvements

Project Summary

The currently used turning vane designs are from over 40 years ago and are outdated. Our team is looking for a less expensive turning vane design by reducing the amount of material needed to manufacture the turning vane. Designs were tested in ANSYS using CFD to make sure the airflow after the vanes meets the requirements set by our sponsor. Structural analysis is also required to validate that the structure can withstand the forces exerted on the newly designed turning vanes.

Design Goal

The design goal was to re-design turning vanes to be smaller and less expensive than the current design used by Safran.

Design Constraints

• Turning vane chord length shall be scaled from 1 meter to a length between ¼ and 1/3 of a meter
• The simulation and experimental Reynolds number shall be approximately the same as the simulation data that is provided
• Mass flow of 2150 kg/sec shall result in a cell flow of 4300 kg/sec
• Design test cell shall be scalable to a 7-meter by 7-meter cross-sectional area
• Velocity distortion index (VDI) shall be 0.35 or less
• The original cost of the turning vanes ($400,000) shall be reduced by 25% through manufacturing, installation, and material usage
• The splice plates shall be able to withstand a mass flow of 1822 kg/sec at 130319 pounds thrust