In the 1980s, a lot of research was conducted in the US on new propulsion technology, at that time named “prop-fan”, that had the objective of significantly reducing the fuel consumption.

WENEMOR was developed in response to the requirements described in the Clean Sky-ITD-GRA call for proposals referenced under SP1-JTI-CLEAN SKY-2010-4 and named “Aero-acoustic noise emissions measure for advanced Regional Open Rotor A/C configuration”.

Responding to this call with a well organised and optimised proposal, WENEMOR put together a consortium of well recognised universities, a well known aeroacoustic wind tunnel company and SMEs around Europe with specific competence in noise measurements and data analysis.

WENEMOR addressed the topic of the above mentioned Call for Proposal carrying-out aero-acoustic measurements in an open test section of a large low speed wind tunnel, on a complete reduced scale modular model of different configurations of an aircraft with installed open rotor systems, operating in both “pusher” and “tractor” modes.

The aim of these tests will be the creation of an aeroacoustic data base that had two main applications: to characterize emitted noise and evaluate installation effects of these different configuration and to allow the validation of Alenia aero-acoustic simulation codes.

The acoustic data coming from these tests was analysed both for far-field and near-field noise characterisation. Fundamental Aeronautics Program of NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate have started funding GE and Boeing for wind tunnel test programs on isolated open rotor propulsion system and on scale model of aircraft equipped with this kind of propulsion system in low-speed wind tunnel to simulate low-altitude aircraft speeds for acoustic evaluation.

Also JU Clean Sky project have addressed the problem in different ITD: Sustained And Green Engines (SAGE), Smart Fixed Wing Aircraft (SFWA) and Green Regional Aircraft.