Characteristics of sand ingestion by ground vortex of a nacelle inlet via a new Eulerian–Lagrangian method

Abstract The phenomenon of ground vortex on engines operating near the ground has been studied for several decades, but the phenomenon of sand ingestion coupled with ground vortex has been less noticed. In this paper, an Eulerian–Lagrangian particle tracking scheme is developed to study the coupling ingestion characteristics of sand and ground vortex into a nacelle inlet near the ground. The influences of freestream air speed, side-wind speed, an aerodynamic interaction plane (AIP) Mach number, ground clearance, and particle properties are comprehensively discussed. It is found that the existence of ground vorticity is the precondition of particle ingestion into the inlet. Finally, a mechanism of particle ingestion coupled with ground vortex is revealed, which can be divided into three stages, namely accumulation, uplift and ingestion. Both the ground vortex and stream tube near the ground are found responsible for the ingestion of particles into the inlet.