Rotor Airload and Acoustics Prediction Based on CFD/CSD Coupling Method

An advanced airload and noise prediction method based on computational fluid dynamics/computational structural dynamics(CFD/CSD)coupling for helicopter rotor has been developed in this paper.In the present method,Navier-Stokes equation is applied as the governing equation,and a moving overset grid system is generated in order to account for the blade motions in rotation,flapping and pitching.The blade structural analysis is based on 14-DOF Euler beam model,and the finite element discretization is conducted on Hamilton′s variational principle and moderate deflection theory.Aerodynamic noise is calculated by Farassat 1 Aformula derived from FW-H equation.Using the developed method,numerical example of UH-60 Ais performed for aeroelastic loads calculation in a low-speed forward flight,and the calculated results are compared with both those from isolated CFD method and available experimental data.Then,rotor noise is emphatically calculated by CFD/CSD coupling method and compared with the isolated CFD method.The results show that the aerodynamic loads calculated from CFD/CSD method are more satisfactory than those from isolated CFD method,and the exclusion of blade structural deformation in rotor noise calculation may cause inaccurate results in low-speed forward flight state.

Numerical Optimization on Aerodynamic/Stealth Characteristics of Airfoil Based on CFD/CEM Coupling Method

Based on computational fluid dynamics(CFD)/computational electromagnetics method(CEM)coupling method and surrogate model optimization techniques,an integration design method about aerodynamic/stealth characteristics of airfoil is established.The O-type body-fitted and orthogonal grid around airfoil is first generated by using the Poisson equations,in which the points per wave and the normal range satisfy the aerodynamic and electromagnetic calculation accuracy requirement.Then the aerodynamic performance of airfoil is calculated by solving the Navier-Stokes(N-S)equations with Baldwin-Lomax(B-L)turbulence model.The stealth characteristics of airfoil are simulated by using finite volume time domain(FVTD)method based on the Maxwell′s equations,Steger-Warming flux splitting and the third-order MUSCL scheme.In addition,based upon the surrogate model optimization technique with full factorial design(FFD)and radial basis function(RBF),an integration design about aerodynamic/stealth characteristics of rotor airfoil is conducted by employing the CFD/CEM coupling method.The aerodynamic/stealth characteristics of NACA series airfoils with different maximum thickness and camber combinations are discussed.Finally,by choosing suitable lift-to-drag ratio and radar cross section(RCS)amplitudes of rotor airfoil in four important scattering regions as the objective function and constraint,the compromised airfoil with high lift-to-drag ratio and low scattering characteristics is designed via systemic and comprehensive analyses.

The Coupled CFD/Free-Wake Method for Numerical Prediction of Rotor BVI Noise

A coupled Navier-Stokes/free-wake method is developed to predict the rotor aerodynamics and wake.The widely-used Farassat 1 Aformulation is adopted to predict the rotor noise.In the coupled method,the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes(RANS)solver is established to simulate complex aerodynamic phenomena around blade and the tip-wake is captured by a free-wake model without numerical dissipation in the off-body wake zone.To overcome the time-consuming of the coupling strategy in previous studies,a more efficient coupling strategy is presented,by which only the induced velocity on the outer boundary grid need to be calculated.In order to obtain blade control settings,a delta trimming procedure is developed,which is more efficient than traditional trim method in the calculation of Jacobian matrix.Several flight conditions are simulated to demonstrate the validity of the coupled method.Then the rotor noise of operational load survey(OLS)is studied by the developed method as an application and the computational results are shown to be in good agreements with the available experimental data.

Research on Trim Control of Compound High Speed Helicopter

An investigation is conducted on optimizing the control allocation for trimmed flight on the compound helicopter.The compound helicopter features a single main rotor,a vectored thrust ducted propeller(VTDP)and lifting wings.Due to the redundant controls for thrust,elevator deflection,and differential and symmetric flap deflection,there is a wide range of trim solutions in forward flight for compound helicopter.A method is developed to calculate optimal trim solutions.Firstly,aerodynamics models for deferent subsystems of the compound helicopter are conducted,which consider the mutual interaction of each part.Secondly,a flight dynamics model is developed based on which the method of trim optimization is performed.Finally,the method is demonstrated using a compound helicopter UH 60L/VTDP.The trim optimization of flight conditions from hover to 370 km/h is conducted using the optimization method.The controls,fuselage attitudes as well as the allocation of lift and thrust along with the flight speed are obtained.

Highly-Efficient Aerodynamic Optimal Design of Rotor Airfoil Using Viscous Adjoint Method

In order to overcome the efficiency problem of the conventional gradient-based optimal design method,a highly-efficient viscous adjoint-based RANS equations method is applied to the aerodynamic optimal design of hovering rotor airfoil.The C-shaped body-fitted mesh is firstly automatically generated around the airfoil by solving the Poisson equations,and the Navier-Stokes(N-S)equations combined with Spalart-Allmaras(S-A)one-equation turbulence model are used as the governing equations to acquire the reliable flowfield variables.Then,according to multi-constrained characteristics of the optimization of high lift/drag ratio for hovering rotor airfoil,its corresponding adjoint equations,boundary conditions and gradient expressions are newly derived.On these bases,two representative rotor airfoils,NACA0012 airfoil and SC1095 airfoil,are selected as numerical examples to optimize their synthesized aerodynamic characteristics about lift/drag ratio in hover,and better aerodynamic performance of optimal airfoils are obtained compared with the baseline.Furthermore,the new designed rotor with the optimized rotor airfoil has better hover aerodynamic characteristics compared with the baseline rotor.In contrast to the baseline airfoils optimized by the finite difference method,it is demonstrated that the adjoint optimal algorithm itself is practical and highly-efficient for the aerodynamic optimization of hover rotor airfoil.

Structural Parameter Analyses on Rotor Airloads with New Type Blade-Tip Based on CFD/CSD Coupling Method

For accurate aeroelastic analysis,the unsteady rotor flowfield is solved by computational fluid dynamics(CFD)module based on RANS/Euler equations and moving-embedded grid system,while computational structural dynamics(CSD)module is introduced to handle blade flexibility.In CFD module,dual time-stepping algorithm is employed in temporal discretization,Jameson two-order central difference(JST)scheme is adopted in spatial discretization and B-L turbulent model is used to illustrate the viscous effect.The CSD module is developed based on Hamilton′s variational principles and moderate deflection beam theory.Grid deformation is implemented using algebraic method through coordinate transformations to achieve deflections with high quality and efficiency.A CFD/CSD loose coupling strategy is developed to transfer information between rotor flowfield and blade structure.The CFD and the CSD modules are verified seperately.Then the CFD/CSD loose coupling is adopted in airloads prediction of UH-60A rotor under high speed forward flight condition.The calculated results agree well with test data.Finally,effects of torsional stiffness properties on airloads of rotors with different tip swept angles(from 10° forward to 30° backward)are investigated.The results are evaluated through pressure distribution and airloads variation,and some meaningful conclusions are drawn the moderated shock wave strength and pressure gradient caused by varied tip swept angle and structural properties.

Aerodynamic characteristics of rigid coaxial rotor by wind tunnel test and numerical calculation

Focusing on aerodynamic characteristics of rigid coaxial rotor of a high-speed helicopter in hover and forward flight, a wind tunnel test is conducted in the 8 m ? 6 m low-speed straightflow wind tunnel of China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center. In the experiment,a 4 m diameter composite model rigid coaxial rotor is designed and manufactured, and firstorder flapping frequency ratio of the blade is 1.796 to ensure sufficient stiffness at the blade root.Rotor aerodynamic performance is measured under hovering and high advance ratio conditions.Also, the numerical method is used to calculate aerodynamic characteristics in typical states of the rigid coaxial rotor for analysis purpose. The rotor lift-drag ratio and lateral lift offset in the experiment are emphatically analyzed for the rigid coaxial rotor. The results indicate that in forward flight condition, the rotor lift-drag ratio first increases and then decreases with the increment of advance ratio and lift offset. When advance ratio remains constant, with the increment of lift offset, the lift-drag ratio of rigid coaxial rotor first increases and then decreases.

Integrated optimization analyses of aerodynamic/stealth characteristics of helicopter rotor based on surrogate model

Abstract Based on computational fluid dynamics （CFD） method, electromagnetic high-frequency method and surrogate model optimization techniques, an integration design method about aerody- namic/stealth has been established for helicopter rotor. The developed integration design method is composed of three modules： integrated grids generation （the moving-embedded grids for CFD sol- ver and the blade grids for radar cross section （RCS） solver are generated by solving Poisson equa- tions and folding approach）, aerodynamic/stealth solver （the aerodynamic characteristics are simulated by CFD method based upon NavieStokes equations and Spalart-Allmaras （S-A） tur- bulence model）, and the stealth characteristics are calculated by using a panel edge method combining the method of physical optics （PO）, equivalent currents （MEC） and quasi-stationary （MQS）, and integrated optimization analysis （based upon the surrogate model optimization technique with full factorial design （FFD） and radial basis function （RBF）, an integrated optimization analyses on aerodynamic/stealth characteristics of rotor are conducted. Firstly, the scattering characteristics of the rotor with different blade-tip swept and twist angles have been carried out, then timfrequency domain grayscale with strong scattering regions of rotor have been given. Meanwhile, the effects of swept-tip and twist angles on the aerodynamic characteristic of rotor have been performed. Furthermore, by choosing suitable object function and constraint condition, the compromised design about swept and twist combinations of rotor with high aerodynamic performances and low scattering characteristics has been given at last.

CFD calculations on the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of a tilt-rotor in a conversion mode

In order to calculate the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of a tilt-rotor in a conver- sion mode, a virtual blade model （VBM） and an real blade model （RBM） are established respec- tively. A new multi-layer moving-embedded grid technique is proposed to reduce the numerical dissipation of the tilt-rotor wake in a conversion mode. In this method, a grid system generated abound the rotor accounts for rigid blade motions, and a new searching scheme named adaptive inverse map （AIM） is established to search corresponding donor elements in the present moving- embedded grid system to translate information among the different computational zones. A dual-time method is employed to fulfill unsteady calculations on the flowfield of the tilt-rotor, and a second-order centered difference scheme considering artificial viscosity is used to calculate the flux. In order to improve the computing efficiency, the single program multiple data （SPMD） model parallel acceleration technology is adopted, according to the characteristic of the current grid system. The lift and drag coefficients of an NACA0012 airfoil, the dynamic pressure distributions below a typical rotor plane, and the sectional pressure distributions on a three-bladed Branum- Tung tilt-rotor in hover flight are calculated respectively, and the present VBM and RBM are val- idated by comparing the calculated results with available experimental data. Then, unsteady aero- dynamic forces and flowfields of an XV-15 tilt-rotor in different modes, such as a fixed conversion mode at different tilt angles （15°, 30°, 60°） and a whole conversion mode which converses from 0° to 90°, are numerically simulated by the VBM and RBM respectively. By analyses and comparisons on the simulated results of unsteady aerodynamic forces of the tilt-rotor in different modes, some meaningful conclusions about distorted blade-tip vortex distribution and unsteady aerodynamic force variation in a conversion mode are obtained, and these investigation results could provide a good foundation for tilt-rotor aircraft design in the future.

Parametric analyses on dynamic stall control of rotor airfoil via synthetic jet

The effects of synthetic jet control on unsteady dynamic stall over rotor airfoil are investigated numerically. A moving-embedded grid method and an Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes（URANS） solver coupled with k-x Shear Stress Transport（SST） turbulence model are established for predicting the complex flowfields of oscillatory airfoil under jet control. Additionally, a velocity boundary condition modeled by sinusoidal function has been developed to fulfill the perturbation effect of periodic jet. The validity of present CFD method is evaluated by comparisons of the calculated results of baseline dynamic stall case for rotor airfoil and jet control case for VR-7 B airfoil with experimental data. Then, parametric analyses are conducted emphatically for an OA212 rotor airfoil to investigate the effects of jet control parameters（jet location, dimensionless frequency, momentum coefficient, jet angle, jet type and dual-jet） on dynamic stall characteristics of rotor airfoil. It is demonstrated by the calculated results that efficiency of jet control could be improved with specific momentum coefficient and jet angle when the jet is located near separation point of rotor airfoil. Furthermore, the dual-jet could improve control efficiency more obviously on dynamic stall of rotor airfoil with respect to the unique jet, and the influence laws of dual-jet＇s angles and momentum coefficients on control effects are similar to those of the unique jet. Finally,unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of rotor via synthetic jet which is located on the upper surface of rotor blade in forward flight are calculated, and as a result, the aerodynamic characteristics of rotor are improved compared with the baseline. The results indicate that synthetic jet has the capability in improving aerodynamic characteristics of rotor.

Aerodynamic shape optimization for alleviating dynamic stall characteristics of helicopter rotor airfoil

In order to alleviate the dynamic stall effects in helicopter rotor, the sequential quadratic programming （SQP） method is employed to optimize the characteristics of airfoil under dynamic stall conditions based on the SC1095 airfoil. The geometry of airfoil is parameterized by the class-shape-transformation （CST） method, and the C-topology body-fitted mesh is then automati- cally generated around the airfoil by solving the Poisson equations. Based on the grid generation technology, the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes （RANS） equations are chosen as the governing equations for predicting airfoil flow field and the highly-efficient implicit scheme of lower-upper symmetric Gauss-Seidel （LU-SGS） is adopted for temporal discretization. To capture the dynamic stall phenomenon of the rotor more accurately, the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model is employed to close the RANS equations. The optimized airfoil with a larger leading edge radius and camber is obtained. The leading edge vortex and trailing edge separation of the opti- mized airfoil under unsteady conditions are obviously weakened, and the dynamic stall character- istics of optimized airfoil at different Mach numbers, reduced frequencies and angles of attack are also obviously improved compared with the baseline SC1095 airfoil. It is demonstrated that the optimized method is effective and the optimized airfoil is suitable as the helicopter rotor airfoil.

Augmented flight dynamics model for pilot workload evaluation in tilt-rotor aircraft optimal landing procedure after one engine failure

An augmented flight dynamics model is developed to extend the existing flight dynamics model of tilt-rotor aircraft for optimal landing procedure analysis in the event of one engine failure.Compared with the existing flight dynamics model, the augmented model involves with more pilot control information in cockpit and is validated against the flight test data. Based on the augmented flight dynamics model, the optimal landing procedure of XV-15 tilt-rotor aircraft after one engine failure is formulated into a Nonlinear Optimal Control Problem(NOCP), solved by collocation and numerical optimization method. The time histories of pilot controls in cockpit during the optimal landing procedure are obtained for the evaluation of pilot workload. An evaluation method which can synthetically quantify the pilot workload in time and frequency domains is proposed with metrics of aggressiveness and cutoff frequencies of pilot controls. The scale of the pilot workload is compared with those of the shipboard landing procedures, bob-up/bob-down and dash/quickstop maneuvers of UH-60 helicopter. The results show that the aggressiveness of pilot collective and longitudinal controls for the tilt-rotor aircraft optimal landing procedure after one engine failure are higher than those for UH-60 helicopter shipboard landing procedures up to the condition of sea state 4, while the pilot cutoff frequency of collective control is lower than that of the bob-up/bob-down maneuver but the pilot cutoff frequency of longitudinal control is higher than that of the dash/quick-stop maneuver. The evaluated pilot workload level is between Cooper–Harper HQR Level 2 and Level 3.

Experimental investigations for parametric effects of dual synthetic jets on delaying stall of a thick airfoil

A promising strategy of synthetic jet arrays （SJA） control for NACA0021 airfoil in preventing flow separation and delaying stall is investigated. Through aerodynamic forces, flowfield and velocity profiles measurements, it indicates that the synthetic jet （S J） could enlarge the mixing of the shear layer and then enhance the stability of boundary layer, resulting in scope reduction of the flow separation zone. Furthermore, the control effects of dual jet arrays positioned at 15%c （Actuator 1） and 40%c （Actuator 2） respectively are systematically investigated with different jet parameters, such as two typical relative phase angles and various incline angles of the jet. The jet closer to the leading edge of airfoil is more advantageous in delaying the stall of airfoil, and overall, the flow control performances of jet arrays are better than those of single actuator. At the angle of attack （AoA） just approaching and larger than the stall AoA, jet array with 180° phase difference could increase the lift coefficient more significantly and prevent flow separation. When momentum coefficient of the jet arrays is small, a larger jet angle of Actuator 2 is more effective in improving the maximum lift coefficient of airfoil. With a larger momentum coefficient of jet array, a smaller jet angle of Actuator 2 is more effective.

Numerical analysis on noise of rotor with unconventional blade tips based on CFD/Kirchhoff method

A solver is developed aiming at efficiently predicting rotor noise in hover and forward flight. In this solver, the nonlinear near-field solutions are calculated by a hybrid approach which includes the Navier–Stokes and Euler equations based on a moving-embedded grid system and adaptive grid methodology. A combination of the third-order upwind scheme and flux-difference splitting scheme, instead of the second-order center-difference scheme which may cause larger wake dissipation, has been employed in the present computational fluid dynamics （CFD） method. The sound pressure data in the near field can be calculated directly by solving the Navier–Stokes equations, and the sound propagation can be predicted by the Kirchhoff method. A harmonic expansion approach is presented for rotor far-field noise prediction, which gives an analytical expression for the integral function in the Kirchhoff formula. As a result, the interpolation process is simplified and the efficiency and accuracy of the interpolation are improved. Then, the high-speed impulsive （HIS） noise of a helicopter rotor at different tip Mach numbers and on different observers is calculated and analyzed in hover and forward flight, which shows a highly directional characteristic of the rotor HIS noise with a maximum value in the rotor plane, and the HSI noise weakens rapidly with the increasing of the directivity angle. In order to investigate the effects of the rotor blade-tip shape on its aeroacoustic characteristics, four kinds of blade tips are designed and their noise characteristics have been simulated. At last, a new unconventional CLOR-II blade tip has been designed, and the noise characteristics of the presented CLOR-II model rotor have been simulated and measured compared to the reference rotors with a rectangular or swept-back platform blade tip. The results demonstrate that the unconventional CLOR-II blade tip can significantly reduce the HSI noise of a rotor.

Experiments on unsteady vortex flowfield of typical rotor airfoils under dynamic stall conditions

A new experiment for airfoil dynamic stall is conducted by employing the advanced par- ticle image velocimetry （PIV） technology in an open-return wind tunnel. The aim of this experimen- tal investigation is to demonstrate the influences of different motion parameters on the convection velocity, position and strength of leading edge vortex （LEV） of airfoil under different dynamic stall conditions. Two different typical rotor airfoils, OA209 and SC1095, are measured at different free stream velocities, oscillation frequencies, and angles of attack. It is demonstrated by the measured data that the airfoil with larger leading edge radius could notably decrease the strength of LEV. The angle of attack （AoA） of airfoil can obviously influence the dynamic stall characteristics of airfoil, and the LEV would be effectively inhibited by decreasing the mean pitch angle. In addition, the con- vection velocity of LEV is estimated in this measurement, and the results demonstrate that the influ- ence of airfoil shape on convection velocity of LEV is limited, but the convection velocity of LEV would be increased by enlarging the oscillation frequency. Meanwhile, the convection velocity of LEV is a time variant value, and this value would increase as the LEV convects to the trailing edge of airfoil.

Trajectory optimization of aerial slung load release for piloted helicopters

This study aims to provide the pilot with optimal control time histories for stabilization of a helicopter after releasing the slung load in aerial delivery missions. A model with 21 degrees of freedom(21-DOF) has been developed and validated for a helicopter slung load system. The control history is generated with detailed procedure based on trajectory optimization. Effects of the objective function formulation on the results are discussed and rules are obtained to assist in the objective function determination. We conclude that the pilot should first decrease and then increase the collective control and adjust the longitudinal control to stabilize the helicopter after the in-hover slung load release. The obtained control history is reasonable and helpful for safety and efficiency improvement. Effects of path constraints and the Flight Control System(FCS) are studied. More stringent path constraints will lead to longer time spent and more controls. Stronger stiffness and weaker damping from the FCS will cause milder control histories but sharper on-axis state histories.

Aeroelastic analysis and structural parametric design of composite rotor blade

Based on FEM theory,a method of dynamic analysis for hingeless rotors considering anisotropic composite materials is established.A parametric modeling method of composite blade with typical profile and high simulation degree for design is proposed.Through the finite element method,the profile characteristics of rotor blade can be obtained efficiently and accurately,and the synchronization of parametric design and finite element analysis of structural characteristics can be realized.Then a 23-degrees of freedom non-linear beam element is used to simulate the extended one-dimensional beam,thereby a nonlinear differential equation describing the elastic motion of the rotor is established.To obtain the crosssectional target characteristics of the blades,an inverse design method is proposed for cross-section components based on combinatorial optimization algorithm.The calculation and validation work show that the proposed model can effectively analyze the aeroelastic characteristics of general composite rotors.Further,the influence of cross-sectional parameters on the aeroelastic stability and hub loads of hingeless rotor is analyzed and some remarkable conclusions are obtained.

New Progress in Helicopter Rotor Wake Research

Rotor wake analysis,a fundamental research of helicopter technology,has been widely applied for rotor aerodynamic analysis. This paper summarizes the research of different rotor wake models at home and abroad and reviews the development process of rotor wake methods as well as the research achievement obtained in each stage.Then,the new progress of helicopter rotor wake methods is described in detail. It includes constant circulation contours modeling method of rotor wake,pseudo-implicit relaxation iteration and time-accurate solution method,research on aerodynamic interaction characteristics of helicopter rotor/fuselage by wake method,research on the rotor blade-vortex interaction noise and interaction of coaxial rigid rotor aerodynamics by viscous vortex particle method,and application of free wake method to helicopter flight dynamics modeling. In the end,some prospects for the research of helicopter rotor wake method are put forward,which clarifies the ideas for the future development of rotor wake method.

Hover performance of helicopter main and tail rotors with swirl velocities

It is important to quickly predict the hover performance of main and tail rotors with sufficient precision for helicopter design. To investigate the effects of swirl velocities on the hover performance of main and tail rotors, and give a better prediction for the hover performance, a flight performance model was derived and a swirl velocity model was coupled into it. The test data of the UH-60 A helicopter were used for validation. When the blade loading coefficient of the main rotor was higher than 0.05, the effects of the swirl velocities on the main rotor power became significant. The swirl velocities increased the profile torque of the main rotor. The increased torque required the tail rotor to produce more thrust with more power consumption. At a higher blade loading coefficient of the main rotor of 0.12, the swirl velocities increased the main rotor power, tail rotor power and total power by 3.80%, 5.24% and 5.08%, respectively. The profile power increase of the main rotor caused by the profile swirl velocity was less than that of the induced swirl velocity, but the power increase was higher at high rotor blade loadings. Considering the swirl velocities in the main rotor can improve the prediction precision of the hover performance, especially at high blade loadings.