Gas turbine engine with improved VIGV shielding

A gas turbine engine comprising:

• a fan rotating about an engine main axis and generating a core airflow and a bypass airflow;
• a core duct, across which the core airflow flows;
• an engine core comprising:
• a compressor for compressing the core airflow and comprising a plurality of stages, each stage comprising a row of rotor blades and a row of stator vanes, a first stage of said plurality of stages being arranged at an inlet of the compressor;
• combustion equipment;
• and
• a turbine connected to the compressor through a shaft;
• an Engine Section Stator (ESS) comprising a plurality of ESS vanes and arranged in the core duct downstream of the fan, each ESS vane comprising an ESS leading edge and an ESS trailing edge;
• and
• a plurality of variable inlet guide vanes (VIGVs) adapted to rotate about a pivot axis and arranged in the core duct downstream of the ESS and upstream of the compressor, each variable inlet guide vanes (VIGVs) comprising a VIGV leading edge and an VIGV trailing edge,
• wherein a mid-span ESS leading edge point PLE1 is arranged at a first radius R1 from the engine main axis and a mid-span VIGV leading edge point PLE2 is arranged at a second radius R2 from the engine main axis, the mid-span ESS leading edge point PLE1 being at an axial distance L from the mid-span VIGV leading edge point PLE2,
• wherein a ratio ΔR/L of a difference ΔR between the first radius R1 and the second radius R2 to the axial distance L is comprised between 0.23 and 0.70, and
• wherein the plurality of VIGVs are arranged angularly rotated with respect to the plurality of ESS vanes such that first longitudinal planes passing through respective 70% span ESS leading edge points are angularly rotated with respect to corresponding second longitudinal planes passing through respective 70% span VIGV pivot axis points by a rotation angle α comprised between 0.1° and 6°.