Navier-Stokes Simulations of Tip Vortices for Fixed and Rotating Helicopter Blades

Abstract

Flowfield and tip vortex results are presented for hovering rotor blade at subcritical and supercritical flow conditions for both nonlifting and lifting configurations. These results are calculated numerically by solving, in a time-accurate fashion, the unsteady thin layer Navier-stokes equations written in rotor coordinates. The lifting calculations use an induced downwash correction, estimated from a free wake analysis, to the geometric angle of attack of the blades to account for the wake effect. Comparison of numerical results with the experimental data shows very good agreement for all cases considered. Alternate methods of calculating hovering rotor flowfield as steady state flowfield on isolated fixed-blade that have the same circulation distribution as that of rotor in hover are explored. Comparison of these results with the rotor results indicate that centrifugal forces of the rotating blade have negligible influence on the overall flowfield at both subcritical and supercritical flow conditions. The results presented in this study are computed on a CRAY2 supercomputer. Reprints.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1988
Accession Number
ADA200016

Entities

People

  • G. R. Srinivasan
  • W. J. Mccroskey

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundary Layer
  • Centrifugal Force
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Differential Equations
  • Equations
  • Experimental Data
  • Flow
  • Flow Visualization
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Fluid Flow
  • Helicopter Rotors
  • Layers
  • Mach Number
  • Navier Stokes Equations
  • Partial Differential Equations
  • Pressure Distribution
  • Simulations

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Fluid Dynamics.