Navier-Stokes Analysis of Helicopter Rotor Aerodynamics in Hover and Forward Flight

Abstract

Reynolds-averaged compressible Navier ‐Stokes computations are presented for the hovering 7A model rotor and a low aspect ratio NACA0012 rotor in nonlifting forward e ight. For enhanced hover performance prediction, aeroelastic effects are taken into account by tightly coupling the e ow solver with a e nite element model of the blade based on Timoshenko beam theory. Good agreement between computed and measured rotor performance is achieved for three collective pitch settings on structured periodic grids featuring noncongruent cell faces along the periodicity planes. Results of a hybrid Navier ‐Stokes/Euler chimera hover computation are presented, in addition to the periodic grid analysis demonstrating the superiority of the overset grid approach with respect to tip vortex conservation. The unsteady Navier ‐Stokes computations for the nonlifting forward e ight test case show more sensitivity relative to time step size than comparable Euler analyses. Overall correlation of computed and experimental near-tip pressure distributions over blade azimuth is considered to be fair, and the strong transonic effects on the advancing blade are adequately captured by the numerical analysis.