Pilot-in-the-Loop CFD Method Development
Abstract
This project addresses the Sea Based Aviation (SBA) virtual dynamic interface (VDI) research topic area "Fast, high-fidelity physics-based simulation of coupled aerodynamics of moving ship and maneuvering rotorcraft." All software supporting piloted simulations must run at real time speeds or faster. For real-time aircraft simulations, all aerodynamic related information for both the aircraft and the environment are incorporated by way of lookup tables. This approach decouples the aerodynamics of the aircraft from the rest of its external environment. However, when an aircraft is flying very close to another body (i.e. a ship superstructure), aerodynamic coupling can exist. The main rotor of the helicopter distorts the flow around the ship possibly resulting significant differences in the disturbance on the helicopter. This project will explore novel numerical modeling and computer hardware approaches with the goal of real time, fully coupled CFD for virtual dynamic interface modeling & simulation. Penn State is supporting the project through integration of their GENHEL-PSU simulation model of a utility helicopter with CRAFT-Tech's flow solvers. During the period of this report, the unsteady flow over the SFS2 ship model has been investigated using Craft Tech s flow solver CRUNCH CFD. An unstructured tetrahedral grid, generated by grid generation package Pointwise, has been provided by CRAFT Tech researchers. The unsteadiness of the flow was demonstrated by the velocity histories with respect to the time. Results have been validated with experimental data.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- ADA606862
Entities
People
- Joseph F. Horn
Organizations
- Pennsylvania State University