Cell structure and acoustic attenuation device for a nacelle of an aircraft propulsion assembly

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a cell structure for an acoustic attenuation device for a nacelle of an aircraft propulsion assembly. This cell structure includes lateral partitions forming channels that each extend between a first end and a second end and skin elements arranged so that each channel is at least partly closed at the first end thereof by at least one skin element. Each skin element is connected to a respective lateral partition and can move relative to the other lateral partitions. A continuous skin can be assembled on this cell structure so as to at least partly close the channels at the second end thereof and to thus form an acoustic attenuation device.

Claims

1. A cellular structure for an acoustic attenuation device for an aircraft propulsion unit nacelle, the cellular structure comprising: lateral partition walls forming channels, each channel extending between a first end and a second end of the channel; and a discontinuous skin consisting of a plurality of skin elements, the plurality of skin elements arranged such that the first end of each channel is at least partially closed by at least one of the plurality of skin elements, wherein each skin element is connected to only one of the lateral partition walls and is movable relative to each of the other lateral partition walls, wherein each lateral portion wall is connected to at most one of the plurality of skin elements, wherein the discontinuous skin is arranged to at least partially close the first ends of the channels.

2. The cellular structure according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of skin elements is fastened to a respective lateral partition wall by welding, riveting, bolting, crimping, or gluing.

3. The cellular structure according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of skin elements forms one single piece with the lateral partition wall to which it is connected.

4. The cellular structure according to claim 1, wherein the first end of each channel is at least partially closed by a first skin element and a second skin element.

5. The cellular structure according to claim 4, wherein, for each channel, the first skin element and the second skin element are at least partially superimposed.

6. The cellular structure according to claim 1, wherein a portion of the at least one skin element of a first channel covers a portion of at least one other skin element of at least one second channel adjacent to the first channel.

7. The cellular structure according to claim 1, wherein each channel is delimited by at least four lateral partition walls.

8. The cellular structure according to claim 1, wherein two adjacent lateral partition walls of two respective adjacent channels are not coplanar.

9. The cellular structure according to claim 1, wherein, for each channel, at least one lateral partition wall comprises corrugated walls or angled facets.

10. The cellular structure according to claim 1, wherein each channel constitutes a portion of a Helmholtz cavity arranged to attenuate a noise generated by an aircraft propulsion unit when the channel is at least partially closed at the second end.

11. An acoustic attenuation device for an aircraft propulsion unit nacelle, wherein the acoustic attenuation device comprises a cellular structure according to claim 1 and a continuous skin closing at least partially the channels of the cellular structure at the second end.

12. The acoustic attenuation device according to claim 11, wherein the continuous skin is arranged such that acoustic waves penetrate into the channels of the cellular structure, each channel constituting a Helmholtz cavity having a cavity bottom formed by at least one of the plurality of skin elements.

13. The acoustic attenuation device according to claim 11, wherein at least one portion of the plurality of skin elements of the cellular structure is arranged to let acoustic waves penetrate into the channels of the cellular structure, each channel constituting a Helmholtz cavity having a cavity bottom formed by the continuous skin.

14. The acoustic attenuation device according to claim 11, wherein the cellular structure comprises a metallic material and the continuous skin comprises a composite material, the cellular structure and the continuous skin being glued to each other.

15. The acoustic attenuation device according to claim 11, wherein the cellular structure comprises titanium or a titanium alloy or nickel or a nickel alloy, and the continuous skin comprises a ceramic material, the cellular structure and the continuous skin being glued to each other with a ceramic glue.

16. An acoustic attenuation device for an aircraft propulsion unit nacelle, wherein the acoustic attenuation device comprises: a first cellular structure according to claim 1; a second cellular structure comprising channels, each channel extending between a first end and a second end of the channel; at least one septum arranged to separate the first and the second cellular structure so as to at least partially close the channels of the first cellular structure at the second end and the channels of the second cellular structure at the first end; and a continuous skin at least partially closing the channels of the second cellular structure at the second end.

17. An aircraft propulsion unit nacelle comprising an acoustic attenuation device according to claim 16.

18. An aircraft propulsion unit nacelle comprising a cellular structure according to claim 1.

19. The cellular structure according to claim 1, wherein each channel is formed by at least six lateral partition walls.

Description

DRAWINGS

(1) In order that the disclosure may be well understood, there will now be described various forms thereof, given by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an aircraft turbojet engine nacelle to which the teachings of the present disclosure are applied;

(3) FIG. 2 is a partial schematic perspective view of a cellular structure according to the present disclosure;

(4) FIG. 3 is a partial schematic side sectional view of the cellular structure of FIG. 2 along a section plane parallel to the plane D2-D3;

(5) FIG. 4 is a partial schematic side sectional view of the cellular structure of FIG. 2 along a section plane parallel to the plane D1-D3;

(6) FIG. 5 is a partial schematic perspective view of a channel of a cellular structure according to the present disclosure;

(7) FIG. 6 is a partial schematic top view of a cellular structure according to the present disclosure;

(8) FIG. 7 is a partial schematic side view of a channel of a cellular structure similar to that of FIG. 6 in which the skin element of the channel is represented unfolded;

(9) FIG. 8 is a partial schematic perspective view of a cellular structure similar to that of FIG. 6;

(10) FIG. 9 is a partial schematic perspective view of lateral partition walls and skin elements of a cellular structure according to the present disclosure;

(11) FIG. 10 is a schematic perspective view of a skin element of a cellular structure according to the present disclosure;

(12) FIG. 11 is a partial schematic top view of lateral partition walls of a cellular structure according to the present disclosure; and

(13) FIG. 12 is a partial schematic top view of lateral partition walls of a cellular structure according to the present disclosure.

(14) FIG. 13 is a partial schematic view of the acoustic attenuation device according to the present disclosure;

(15) The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(16) The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses. It should be understood that throughout the drawings, corresponding reference numerals indicate like or corresponding parts and features.

(17) The present disclosure proposes a cellular structure and an acoustic attenuation device for a propulsion unit nacelle, for example a turbojet engine or turbomachine, of an aircraft.

(18) An example of an aircraft (not represented) turbojet engine (not represented) nacelle 1 is illustrated in FIG. 1. The nacelle 1 comprises a pylon 10 intended to be fastened to a wing (not represented) of the aircraft. The nacelle 1 comprises an upstream section 11 provided with a lip 110 forming an air inlet. The upstream section 11 is adapted to enable improved capture towards the turbojet engine of the air needed to supply a fan (not represented) and inner compressors (not represented) of the turbojet engine. The nacelle 1 also includes a middle section 12 receiving the fan as well as a downstream section 13. Under the pylon 10 and downstream of the turbojet engine, the nacelle 1 comprises an exhaust conduit 14 including a gas ejection cone 141 (“plug”) and a primary nozzle 142 (“nozzle”). The ejection cone 141 and the primary nozzle 142 of the exhaust conduit 14 define a passage for a hot air flow exiting the turbojet engine.

(19) The nacelle 1 and in particular the exhaust conduit 14 may comprise one or several acoustic attenuation device(s) and/or one or several cellular structure(s) as described hereinbelow with reference to FIG. 2 and following.

(20) FIGS. 2 to 4 show an example of a cellular structure 2 in accordance with the present disclosure.

(21) The cellular structure 2 comprises lateral partition walls 21 forming channels each extending between a first end and a second end. Referring to FIG. 4, which shows the cellular structure 2 of FIG. 2 in section along a section plane parallel to the plane D1-D3, the first end is located towards the top of FIG. 4 and the second end is located towards the bottom of FIG. 4. In this example, the channels 31-33 formed by the lateral partition walls 21 extend along a transverse direction D3 and some lateral partition walls delimit two adjacent channels.

(22) Without limitation, the lateral partition walls 21 may be assembled together by gluing or soldering or welding.

(23) According to the present disclosure, the cellular structure 2 further comprises skin elements 22 and 23 arranged so that each channel is at least partially closed at its first end by at least one skin element, in this case by two skin elements 22 and 23. Each channel thus closed forms an open cell at its second end.

(24) In the example of FIGS. 2 to 4, each represented channel is partially closed at its first end, on the one hand by a first skin element 22 specific to the channel and, on the other hand, by a second skin element 23 specific to the channel. In particular, with reference to FIG. 4 which shows three channels 31, 32 and 33, each of the channels 31 and 33 being adjacent to the channel 32, the channel 31 is partially closed at its first end, on the one hand by a first skin element 220 (similar to the other skin elements 22) specific to the channel and, on the other hand, by a second skin element 231 (similar to the other skin elements 23) specific to the channel.

(25) In this example, each represented channel is also partially closed by a first skin element 22 of a channel adjacent to the channel, in this case by a portion 221 of said first skin element 22 of the adjacent channel, the adjacent channel corresponding in this example to the channel 32 (see FIG. 4).

(26) The partial closure of the channels by a first skin element 22 of an adjacent channel is in this example useful because of the shape of these channels each comprising more than four lateral partition walls 21. As appears in FIG. 2 in which reference is made to the channel located at the top right of this figure, the closure by the skin elements 22 and 23 of the channel is partial since the skin elements 22 and 23 of the channel define an opening 29. Thus, the opening 29 of the channel could be closed by a first skin element 22 of an adjacent channel (not represented) which would be located to the right of the channel. Such a closure is for example, for another channel illustrated in FIG. 2, designated by the reference 290.

(27) The cellular structure 2 of FIG. 2 is thus covered with a discontinuous skin extending over the whole structure by the concatenation or aggregation of the skin elements 22, 23.

(28) In the example of FIG. 5, the single channel represented in this figure is closed at its first end by one single skin element 22.

(29) Moreover, each skin element 22, 23 is connected to a respective lateral partition wall.

(30) More specifically, each channel of the cellular structure of FIGS. 2 to 4 comprises two skin elements 22 and 23 connected to a respective lateral partition wall of the channel, whereas each channel of the cellular structures of FIGS. 5 to 8 comprises one single skin element 22 connected to a lateral partition wall of the channel.

(31) Several types of connection between skin element and lateral partition wall are herein considered without limitation.

(32) A first type of connection includes fastening each skin element 22 and/or 23 to a respective lateral partition wall, for example by welding or riveting or bolting or crimping or even gluing (not represented). The skin element can in this example be an affixed element.

(33) In the form of FIGS. 9 and 10, the skin element 22 comprises a leg 223 arranged to be fastened to a leg 213 of a lateral partition wall 21. Such a skin element 22 can be fastened to a corresponding lateral partition wall 21 for example by riveting, punching, gluing, brazing, welding, or else clipping their respective fastening leg 213 and 223.

(34) A second type of connection includes making the skin element 22 and the lateral partition wall 21 to which it is connected in one single piece.

(35) FIG. 7 illustrates such a type of connection by showing a channel of a cellular structure comprising a skin element 22. The skin element 22 is made in one single piece with a lateral partition wall 21 of the channel. In this example, the skin element 22 is represented “unfolded” so that the closure of the channel involves “folding” the skin element 22 at the level of a fold area Z1.

(36) FIG. 8 shows a cellular structure 2 comprising channels similar to the channel in FIG. 7, the skin elements 22 being folded so as to close corresponding channels.

(37) If a skin element 22 is folded with respect to a lateral partition wall 21 with which it forms one single piece (second type of connection described hereinabove), it is possible to overfold the skin element 22 when assembling the cellular structure 2 so that the angle formed by the skin element 22 and the lateral partition wall 21 is smaller than 90°. Such an overfolding creates a spring effect and makes it possible to hold the skin element 22 pressed against one or several lateral partition wall(s) 21 of the channel closed thereby and/or against one or several adjacent skin element(s).

(38) When the skin element 22 is attached (first type of connection described hereinabove), it can have a slightly convex shape so as to promote such a spring effect and thus hold the skin element 22 pressed against one or several lateral partition wall(s) 21 of the channel closed thereby and/or against one or several adjacent skin element(s).

(39) According to the present disclosure, each skin element 22, 23 connected to a respective lateral partition wall 21 is movable relative to the other lateral partition walls 21 and in one form relative to the other skin elements 22, 23 in any longitudinal direction D1, D2. In this example, the skin elements 22, 23 are parallel to the directions D1 and D2 (see for example FIG. 8).

(40) In particular, for each channel, at least one skin element 22 is connected to a respective lateral partition wall 21 of the channel and is not fastened to the other lateral partition walls 21 of the channel.

(41) These features come out directly from FIG. 7 which shows a skin element 22 connected to a lateral partition wall 21 so that it can be folded with respect to the lateral partition wall 21. Thus, such a skin element 22 is not fastened to the other lateral partition walls of the channel and of a cellular structure comprising such a channel.

(42) Furthermore, when a skin element 22 is folded so as to close a channel, as illustrated in FIG. 8, a skin element 22 can be covered by another skin element 22 and thus be immobilized transversely (in the direction D3) against the lateral partition walls 21 of the channel closed thereby and to which it is not fastened. Such a skin element 22 can therefore be immobile with respect to these lateral partition walls 21 in the transverse direction D3 of the cellular structure 2. Nonetheless, such a skin element 22 remains movable relative to these lateral partition walls 21 along a longitudinal direction D2 and/or D1 of the cellular structure 2.

(43) In the case of mutual coverage of skin elements 22, for example when a given skin element 22 that is connected to a lateral partition wall 21 of a first channel is covered by at least one skin element 22 connected to a lateral partition wall 21 of a second channel adjacent to the first channel, a notch 25 may be made between the skin element 22 and the lateral partition wall 21 to which it is connected (see FIGS. 7 and 8). Such a notch 25 allows on the one hand receiving an adjacent skin element 22 and, on the other hand, immobilizing it in the transverse direction D3 and enabling it to slip in the directions D1 and D2.

(44) In this way, the skin elements 22 can be nested with one another according to the examples of FIGS. 6 and 8.

(45) Referring to FIGS. 2 to 4, when a channel is at least partially closed by two skin elements 22 and 23 specific to the channel, these skin elements 22 and 23 can, at least partially, be superimposed. See for example the channel 33 of FIG. 4 where the first skin element 22 of the channel 33 partially covers the second skin element 23 of the channel 33.

(46) In addition, a portion of a skin element 22 of a first channel can cover a portion of at least one other skin element 22 and/or 23 of at least one second channel adjacent to the first channel.

(47) Thus, in the example of FIG. 4, the portion 221 of the skin element 22 of the channel 32 covers a portion of the skin element 231 of the channel 31 adjacent to the channel 32.

(48) The cellular structure 2 of FIG. 8 also shows a coverage of each skin element 22 by at least one other skin element 22.

(49) Regarding the arrangement of the lateral partition walls 21, numerous geometries of channels may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

(50) In the example of FIG. 6, each channel is delimited by six lateral partition walls 21a to 21f (see the channel located at the bottom to the left of this figure). In this example, the lateral partition walls 21a to 21d have a larger surface area than the lateral partition walls 21e and 21f.

(51) In this example, the skin element 229 (similar to the other skin elements 22 of the structure of FIG. 6) is connected to the lateral partition wall 21b. The lateral partition walls 21e and 21f herein constitute “nodal joints,” each nodal joint of a channel being arranged to be connected to a nodal joint of an adjacent channel.

(52) When the cellular structure 2 comprises nodal joints, two nodal joints can be fastened together by gluing, brazing, welding, riveting by rivet or by punching, or any known assembly method.

(53) In one form, the cellular structure 2 may be arranged so that two adjacent lateral partition walls 21 of two respective adjacent channels are not coplanar. Thus, for example, each of the two channels represented at the bottom to the left of FIG. 8 comprises a lateral partition wall 21 located at a different coordinate along D2. In other words, a plane containing the lateral partition wall 21 of one of these channels is different from a plane containing the lateral partition wall 21 of the other one of these channels, these two planes in the case could be parallel to the plane D1-D3.

(54) In the example of FIG. 5, the channel comprises lateral partition walls 21 forming multiple facets.

(55) FIGS. 11 and 12 illustrate other shapes or arrangements of lateral partition walls 21 forming corrugated walls or angled facets therebetween.

(56) In the previous examples of cellular structure 2, each channel is open at its second end.

(57) More specifically, in one form, each channel constitutes a portion of a Helmholtz cavity arranged to attenuate a noise generated by an aircraft turbojet engine or turbomachine when the channel is at least partially closed at its second end.

(58) Such a cellular structure 2 can therefore be assembled with a continuous skin (not represented) at least partially closing the channels at their second end so as to constitute an acoustic attenuation device for an aircraft propulsion unit (turbojet engine or turbomachine) nacelle.

(59) To this end, at least the following two alternatives may be implemented:

(60) First alternative: the continuous skin (not represented) may be arranged to let acoustic waves penetrate into the channels of the cellular structure 2, for example throughout orifices made in the continuous skin.

(61) According to this first alternative, each channel constitutes a Helmholtz cavity having a cavity bottom constituted by the discontinuous skin, by at least one skin element.

(62) Second alternative: at least one portion of the skin elements 22 and/or 23 of the cellular structure 2 may be arranged to let acoustic waves penetrate into the channels of the cellular structure 2, for example throughout orifices (not represented) made in these skin elements 22 and/or 23. According to this second alternative, each channel constitutes a Helmholtz cavity having a cavity bottom constituted by said continuous skin (not represented).

(63) Such an acoustic attenuation device may comprise several combinations of materials.

(64) For example, the cellular structure 2 may comprise a metallic material and the continuous skin (not represented) may comprise a composite material. In this case, the cellular structure 2 and the continuous skin (not represented) may be glued to each other.

(65) As another example, the cellular structure 2 may comprise titanium or a titanium alloy, or else comprise nickel or a nickel alloy, and the continuous skin (not represented) may comprise a ceramic material, in particular a composite material with a ceramic matrix, in particular a composite material with ceramic fibers and a ceramic matrix from the family of aluminum oxides. In this case, the cellular structure 2 and the continuous skin (not represented) may be glued to each other with a ceramic glue. For example, it is possible to use glues from the CERAMABOND® family or a mix of a pre-ceramic resin and alumina fillers which will then be consolidated through a thermal cycle.

(66) Fastening of the cellular structure 2 with the continuous skin (not represented) may be carried out in multiple alternative or complementary ways, including the use of through fasteners, gluing, brazing, etc.

(67) Of course, the present disclosure is not limited to the examples that have just been described and many arrangements may be made to these examples without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, if it is desired in particular to facilitate the fastening of the skin elements or the manufacture of the cellular structure while retaining the principle of the present disclosure, an arrangement of the examples described hereinabove may include arranging the skin elements so that:

(68) each channel of a first series of channels is at least partially closed at its first end by at least one skin element specific to the channel, that is to say by at least one skin element at least partially closing the channel alone, and/or

(69) several groups of channels of a second series of channels are at least partially closed at their first end by the same respective skin element, that is to say that a skin element can at least partially close several channels of such a group (not represented).

(70) Unless otherwise expressly indicated herein, all numerical values indicating mechanical/thermal properties, compositional percentages, dimensions and/or tolerances, or other characteristics are to be understood as modified by the word “about” or “approximately” in describing the scope of the present disclosure. This modification is desired for various reasons including industrial practice, material, manufacturing, and assembly tolerances, and testing capability.

(71) As used herein, the phrase at least one of A, B, and C should be construed to mean a logical (A OR B OR C), using a non-exclusive logical OR, and should not be construed to mean “at least one of A, at least one of B, and at least one of C.”

(72) The description of the disclosure is merely exemplary in nature and, thus, variations that do not depart from the substance of the disclosure are intended to be within the scope of the disclosure. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.