The current paper concerns numerical and experimental study of an unconventional turboshaft intake manifold. Many aspects need to be considered when retrofitting a gas turbine engine to replace an existing piston powerplant, such as jet diversion and exhaust, noise, cooling; but this paper will focus on the aerodynamics of the inlet system which is the most sensitive of the above-mentioned aspects. Three key aspects will be tackled, inlet distortion, pressure losses and topology of the system. A modern turboshaft engine was chosen for this particular case study and its installation effects (IE) tested with both preliminary RANS and later confirmed with experimental data taken from Comoti's turboshaft testing complex. The CFD data gives information about the fluid flow patterns through intake system, helping to improve intake geometry, especially the inlet plenum chamber, reducing in this way the number of experimental tests. Starting from baseline configuration, adjustments were made for improving flow pattern and to reduce pressure losses. Once a proper configuration was obtained, experimental tests have been carried out to validate CFD results. The comparison between the two analyses, illustrate similar flow structures and minimum differences in terms of total pressure losses.
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