The leading edges of aero-engine fan and compressor blades suffer from severe erosion due to the inhalation of suspended particulates in the low-altitude atmosphere during long-term transport. A small deformation of the leading edge can significantly change the aerodynamic performance under a strong non-linear effect, leading to increased operation and maintenance costs for engines. This review first focuses on leading-edge erosion morphology during service, and models of these damages. Secondly, the performance degradation caused by eroded leading edges on different classes of engine components, including airfoils, blades, compression systems, and the whole engine, are reviewed. Finally, optimization methods for eroded blade leading edges and their effects on performance recovery are summarized. This paper contributes to an in-depth understanding of the erosion mechanism of blade leading edges in terms of status and its effect, and is a good reference for establishing erosion leading edge repair methods and improving the level of automated repair.
The entire compression system of DGEN380 was selected to study the degradation of aerodynamic characteristics caused by erosion of the leading edge. Numerical simulations under different degrees of leading edge erosion were performed. It was found that the leading edge erosion causes a significant decrease in operability from 70 % of the blade height to the tip, and mainly affects the subsequent flow field in the bypass. At 90 % of blade height, the isentropic efficiency and total pressure ratio of the blade with leading edge erosion are reduced compared to the origin blade. Afterwards, the thrust equation was introduced to analyze the effect of leading edge erosion on the thrust loss under different operating conditions of the aircraft. Among the three operating conditions, the thrust loss rate of the cruise condition was the largest, which provided a reference for the subsequent evaluation of the blade repair condition.
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