Predicting aerodynamic rotor-fuselage interactions by using unstructured meshes

Abstract

A numerical method has been developed for the analysis of interactional aerodynamics between helicopter rotor and fuselage in forward flight. A 3-D steady compressible Euler solver is used to compute time-averaged interactional effects between the rotor and the fuselage. The rotor is modeled as an actuator disk with zero thickness carrying pressure jump across it. Collective and cyclic pitch angles are calculated to satisfy the rotor trim condition, Unstructured meshes are used to model complex rotor-fuselage configurations. Calculations are performed for two generic helicopter fuselage geometries. The results are compared with available experimental data for validation.