Free-Wake Analysis of a Rotor in Hover,

Abstract

A numerical method based on the axisymmetric, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations is combined with a lifting surface code to predict the vortex wake of hovering rotors. The lifting surface code, AMI Hover, is used to obtain the circulation distribution on the blade. This circulation distribution is fed into the Navier-Stokes code to compute the vortex wake under this specified circulation distribution. An iteration approach is used between these two codes to converge the circulation distribution and the shape of the vortex wake. A relaxation scheme is developed to resolve the instability encountered among the tip vortices. A reconcentration scheme is used to solve the diffusion problem due to the strong artificial viscosity. The results from the present method are compared with experimental data obtained by smoke-flow visualization and hot-wire measurements for several rotor blade configurations. The comparisons show that the present method is able to predict the complex wake system shed by a hovering rotor.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1987
Accession Number
ADA182389

Entities

People

  • C. S. Chen
  • C. Tung
  • H. R. Velkoff

Organizations

  • Ohio State University

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Blade Tips
  • Blades
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Computational Science
  • Equations
  • Experimental Data
  • Flow
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Helicopter Rotors
  • Helicopters
  • Hot Wire
  • Lifting Surfaces
  • Molecular Dynamics
  • Numerical Analysis
  • Rotary Wing Aircraft

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerodynamics.
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics.