V ol . 15 N o .

2 CHIN ESE JO U RN A L O F A ER O N A U T IC SM ay 2002

Combined Free Wake / CFD Methodology for Predicting Transonic Rotor Flow in Hover
CAO Yi-hua, YU Zhi-qiang, SU Yuan, KANG Kai ( Dep artment of Flight V ehicle Design and A pp l ied M echanics , Beij ing Univer sity of A eronautics and A st ronautics , Beij ing 100083 , China)
Abstract: A new co mbined w ake / CFD m ethodolog y is used to include realistic wa ke effect s in CF D solut ions for t he r oto r flow in ho ver . T he analytical method for pr edicting the ho ver ing r ot or w ake is descr ibed to inv estig ate t he mot ion of the helical tip vo rt ex . Beginning w it h the g eneralized w ake mo del, a SemiEmpir ical Co rr ectio n for the v or tex cor e effect o n the ro tor wake is ma de. T hen o n the co ndit ion o f circulatio n and wa ke g eomet ry conver gence, t he free w ake calculatio n is car ried out . Finally, Euler equations ar e solved fo r tra nso nic ro to r flo w emplo ying Jameson's finite vo lume ex plicit R ung eK utta tim estepping scheme. T he result s ar e compared w ith the respect ive r eferences and ex per im enta l data. Key words : r oto r a ero dy nam ics; numer ical simula tio n; ro tor shock / v or tex system; flo w / CFD . , , , . ( ) , 2002, 15( 2) : 65- 71. : / CFD CFD . . , ; ; Jameso n - . . : ; ; / ; : 10009361( 2002) 020065-07 : V 212. 4 : A

Wit h the development of com put at ional t echniques, and high-speed and larg e capacit y com put er , CF D ( Euler / Navier-Sto kes) simulat ions f or rot or aero dynamics are being f ull y realized. Ho w ev er , pro ceeding fr om t he part icularity of rot or aer ody namics, vort ex modeling for rot or aer ody nam ics has st ill been a viable appr oach fo r delineat ing problem areas and very useful f or guiding f ur ther t heoret ical and ex perimental invest igat io ns [ 1] . As f or t he v ort ex mo deling for r ot or aer ody namics, it means r ot or vort ex t heory ( i . e. rot or w ake analyt ical method ) . At present , t here are three kinds of w ake analyt ical m et hods including prescribed w ake, f ree w ake and half -free wake analyt ical met ho ds
[ 2, 3]

t heory , it wo uld seem t hat t he primary deficiencies o f v ort ex mo deling fo r rot or aero dynamics are t he l ack o f an appr opriat e m odel f or t he t ip vo rt ex core , t he lack o f a mo del fo r t he f orm at ion of t he t ip vort ex , and t he modeling o f inbo ard vo rt ex sheet t hickness and so on. In v iew o f the dev elo pm ent of CF D simulat io n f or rot or aer ody namics, t he computat ional code has pr ogr essed f rom t he so lut ion of t ransonic small dist urbance equat ions to full pot ent ial equations and mor e recent ly t o t hat of Eul er / NS equa[ 5] t ions . It is w ell know n t hat t he fl ow aro und a helicopt er rot or blade is characterized by its non u[ 4]

nifor m unst eady inf low wit h close bl ade / vo rt ex passages and t ransonic condit ions. Alt houg h t he

. At to day' s development st ag e in this

Received date: 2001-09-05; Revision recei ved dat e: 2002-03-17 Foundati on it em: A eronaut ical Science Foun dat ion of Chin a( 00A 51050) A rt icl e U R L: ht t p: / / ww w . hk xb. net. cn/ cja/ 2002/ 02/ 0065/

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det ail s of t he near and middle flo w f ield of t he ro to r w ake may be obt ained by CF D simulat io n, t here are st ill cer tain diff icult ies in predict ing t he far f low f ield of t he ro to r w ake. T her ef ore, a f ree w ake / CF D met ho dolo gy , w hich combines CFD sim ulat ion f or t he near and m iddl e f low f ield o f t he rot or wit h realist ic rot or far field w ake ef fects, is requir ed . In t his paper , a com bined f ree w ake / CFD method fo r predict ing transo nic rot or f low is co nceived. T hro ug h sample calculat ions g ood result s are o bt ained and it is prov ed that the com bined f ree w ake / CFD method developed here can include realist ic w ake eff ect s in CFD so lut ions f or t he rot or flo w .

C! F 2 u= { x tan sin( # - #) + C!

[ x t an sin( # - #) + x cos( # - # )] ( Z - Z ) } d# 3 p C! F 2 v = C ! { x t an [x - x cos( # - #) ] ( 5)

[ x t an cos( # - # ) - x sin( # - # )] d# ( Z - Z )} 3 p C! F 2 w = {x - x x co s( # - #) C!

( 6)

x x t an sin( # - #) } w here

d# p3

( 7)

2 p 2 = x + x 2 - 2x x co s( # - #) + 2 ( z - z )2 + %

1Free W ake Analytical T echnique

1. 1Generalized wake model T he t ip vor tex f low v isualizat ion data can be w el l sim ulat ed by a series o f linear and exponent ial funct ions. Fo r a hov er ing rot or , its prescribed and generalized w ake can be ex pressed by t he f ollo w ing relatio ns . T he t ip vor tex ax ial coo rdinates and radial co ordinat es are r espect ively k 1 Z= k1
w w [ 2]

0 - 2 / N b)
w

2 /Nb
Fig. 1 Schematic o f vo rtex cor e element

2 / N b + k 2(

2 /Nb ( 1)
w

r = A + ( 1- A)e

T he variabl es w ith prime repr esent t he coor dinat es at any point of the vo rtex elem ent cent ric l ine and respect iv e pitch angl e. T he variables w ith represent t he coor dinat es at the calout prim e culat ed point s. % is t he co re diamet er of t he vo rt ex element . In this paper , t he inner sheet is m odeled as a zer o -t hickness vort ex sheet , and t he t ip vort ex is r epresent ed by a space hel ix w it h a const ant vo rt ex core diamet er. T he axial induced v elo cit y due t o t he vo rt ex core ef fect at its m iddle point is 4p L ln - 1/ 4 - k 2sin cos 2cos & % 2 2 wc = 1 pL 2 2 1 - k cos 2 1 + cos 2 ln + cos 2 sin 2 ( 8)
[ 6, 7]

( 2) ( 3) ( 4)

T he v ort ex sheet ax ial coordinat e is Z = Z r = 0 + r ( Z r = 1 - Zr = 0 ) T he v ort ex sheet radial co ordinat e is r = r Cr B / r D 1. 2Vortex core effects

Using a f ree w ake analyt ical idea, t he t ip vor tex evolves freely in the air env ir onm ent . T he t ip vor tex element 's induced velocit y is co nt ribut ed by t he blade bo und vort ex , inner vort ex sheet and t ip vor tex it self . Based on Bio t-Savart law , t he no ndimensional induced velocity caused by a vort ex element at any calculat ed point can be calculated. It s radial, circum ferent ial and ax ial induced velocit y co mpo nents in cy lindrical po lar coor dinat es are respect iv ely ex pressed as f ollo ws ( see Fig . 1)

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T he co nt ribut ion of t he vo rtex core eff ect t o t he circum ferent ial induced velocit y can be ex pressed as vc = - w c t an& ( 9) According t o Eq. ( 2) , t he co nt ribut ion of t he vor tex core eff ect to the radial induced velocit y may be approx im ately expressed by t he f ollo w ing fo rmula C uc = u Ae
#
w

w here u W= v , Fx = w e w wu Fz = wv w + p wh
2

u u + p
2

v vu , Fy = v2 + p , vw vh 0 - ) w

uv uw uh

( 10)

, G=

0 )u 0

1. 3Free wake analysi s In cyl indr ical polar coordinat es, new w ake g eomet ry ( see F ig. 2) coordinat es can be defined as
new ( i + 1)

L et F = Fx ex + Fy e y + Fz ez , U) = u) ex + v ) ey + w ) e z w here ( ex , e y , ez ) are the unit vect or s in t he ( x , y , z ) coordinat e syst em . T hen Eq. ( 13) can be w rit t en as W + t F + U) W= G ( 14)

old (i)

+ v ( i ) ( t/ r ( i ) ( 11)

old r new ( i + 1) = r ( i ) + u ( i ) ( t

z ( i + 1) = z ( i ) + w ( i ) (t
new old

F ig . 2 Rot or wake g eomet ry in hover

T he w ake geomet ry convergence crit er io n is replaced by a circulat ion converg ence criterion in t his paper . T he circulat ion conv erg ence crit erion can be described as
N
e

error =

i= 1

n ew (i)

- !

old ( i)

i= 1

! new ( i)

&0

( 12) w here for &0 , it s sel ection depends on t he com pro mise bet w een the calculat ing amount and accuracy requir em ent .

2CF D F ormulation
2. 1Governing equations In a Cart esian coordinat e sy st em ro tat ing w it h ang ul ar velocity ) o f t he rot or, t he co mpr essible Eul er equat ions are fo rmulated as fo llow s ( see Fig . 3) W + t Fx + x Fy + y Fz W W + u) + w) = G z x z ( 13)

F ig . 3 T he ro tor system ( a ) the coo rdinates of the ro tor blade; ( b) T he gr id of r ot or blade

2. 2 Numerical procedure 2. 2. 1F init e volume method T o appl y t he f init e v olume m et hod , Eq. ( 14) is w rit t en in t he int egral f orm

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Wdv +
V V

n Fds +
V

U)

nWd s =
V

Gdv ( 15)

direct ion. T he f ar-field boundary is t reat ed accor ding to t he no nref lect ing boundar y condit ions.

fo r a dom ain V wit h a bounding surf ace V , w here n denot es t he unit out w ard norm al vect or t o t he surf ace element ds . By applying Eq . ( 15) separ at ely to each cell, one can o bt ain a syst em of ordinary dif ferent ial equat ions d ( J i , j , k W i , j , k ) + P i , j , k + Qi , j , k = J i , j , k G i , j , k dt ( 16) T o prevent t he appearance o f oscillat ions in regions cont aining severe pr essure gradient s near shock waves and st agnat ion po int s , the finite vol um e scheme is augm ent ed by t he addit ion of ar tif icial dissipat iv e t erm s D ij k . Eq. ( 16) is replaced by d i, j , k i, j , k ) + C i, j , k - D i, j , k = 0 dt ( J W ( 17)

3Result s and Analyses

3. 1 Rotor bl ade airfoil calculation ( NACA0012 Airf oil) A t w o dimensional airfo il O-t ype mesh ( 99 35) is g enerat ed by solving P ossion equat ions and L aplace equations f or t he airf oil. F igs . 4 ( a ) and ( b ) sho w the pressure dist ribut ion of NACA0012 airf oil. T he com put ational = 2 ) and r esult s f or t he condit ions ( Ma = 0. 63, + ( M a = 0. 72, += 0 ) agr ee w ith t he o nes in Ref . [ 8] . When t he angle of att ack is incr eased , t he diff erence of t he pressures bet w een t he upper and l ow er surfaces is incr eased, and t he l if t is r aised. U nder tr ansonic condit ion , the capture of shockw ave place, t he abrupt chang e of pressure and t he dist ribut ion of pressur e, w hich are show n in Fig . 4 ( c) , agr ee w it h t hose in Ref . [ 9] . 3. 2 Caradonna and Tung Rotor resul t

w here C i , j , k = P i , j , k + Q i , j , k - J i , j , k G i, j , k ; J ij k is t he cell volume ; P ij k repr esent s t he net absolut e flux out of t he cell; and Q ij k is t he rot at ional f lux . 2. 2. 2 T ime-st epping scheme T he classical f ourt h o rder Rung e Kut t a

Scheme is used t o int egrat e Eq . ( 17) . Suppressing t he subscript s ( i, j , k ) gives dW + R ( W) = 0 dt w here R ( W) = st ages W( 0) = Wn
( 0) W( 1) = W( 0) - + 1( tR ( W ) ( 2) ( 0) 2( tR ( W ) - + ( 1)

( 18)

1 ( C i, j , k - D i, j , k ) . J i, j , k T hen, Eq. ( 18) is solved by t he f ollo w ing

= W

( 2) W( 3) = W( 0) - + 3( tR ( W ) ( 3) W( 4) = W( 0) - + 4( tR ( W )

( 19)

n+ 1

= W

( 4)

2. 2. 3 Boundary co ndit ions T he f low tangency is applied at t he blade sur face. In t he plane cont aining t he blade root , t he so lid bo undary condit ion is al so used , and w / z are implement ed t o cut of f the f lux in t he spanw ise
F ig . 4 N A CA 0012 airfo il calcula tio n ( a ) M a = 0. 63, + = 2 ; ( b) M a = 0. 72, + = 0 ; ( c) M a = 0. 80, + = 0

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T he OH m esh size of t he rot or blade is 99 35 51. T he init ial data f or Caradonna and T ung rot or co mput ation is got f rom t he t w o-bladed model rot or repo rt ed in Ref . [ 10] wit h non-to rsion and non t apered NACA 0012 blade , ,= 6. 0, radius of blade R = 1. 143 m , and airf oil cho rd c= 0. 1905m . Fig s. 5( a) , ( b) and ( c) show t he sho ck posi-

t ion, the abrupt chang e of pressure and t he dist ribut ion of pressure . It can be fo und t hat t he calculat ed result s are in agr eement w it h t he experiment data in Ref . [ 10] . 3. 3 Different bl ade tip shapes In order to investig at e t he ef fect s of diff erent Blade T ip shapes on t he rot or f low , a model r ot or f or t he Dolphin 2 Helico pt er ro to r is adopt ed. T he blades w it h dif ferent blade tip shapes are sho w n in F ig. 6.

Fig . 6 Schem atic of r ot or blade shapes ( a) Rectangular ta per ed blade; ( b) Rectang ular tapered blade with sweptback tip; ( c) Rectang ular tapered blade with anhedr al t ip ; ( d) Schematic of ro tor blade

3. 3. 1 Rect ang ular t apered blade As sho w n in F ig. 7 and F ig. 8, it is f ound t hat w hen t he angl e o f at t ack is r aised fr om 3 t o 6 ( the M ach Number of the blade t ip Ma tip = 0. 877) , t he max imum pressur e dif ference at r = 0. 951R increases fr om 0. 2 t o 1. 0; furt herm ore , w hen t he M ach Number of the blade t ip is raised f rom 0. 877 t o 0. 9 ( angle of att ack + = 6 ) , t he m ax imum presFig . 5 Compar ison of the calculation r esults and ex periment dat a ( a ) T he r esult r epo rt ed in R ef. [ 10] ; ( b) Calculation r esult ( r = 0. 84R , M a= 0. 8, + = 2 ); ( c) Calculatio n r esult ( r = 0. 8R , M at i p = 0. 877, + = 2 )

sure diff erence increases f rom 1. 0 to 1. 2. 3. 3. 2 Rect angular taper ed blade w ith sw eptback ef f ect ( w it h a const ant sw ept angle ) When t he blade has a const ant sw ept ang le

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F ig . 7 Rectangular t aper ed blade result ( a) M at i p = 0. 877, + = 3 ; ( b) M a ti p = 0. 877, + = 6

= 6 ) F ig . 8 Rectangular t aper ed blade r esult ( M at i p = 0. 9, + ( a) r = 0. 788 R ; ( b) r = 0. 951R ; ( c) r = 0. 976 R ; ( d) r = 0. 984R

30 , t he shockw ave beco mes w eaker , w hich is show n in t he co nt rast betw een Fig . 8 and Fig . 9. Fo r example, in the pl ace r = 0. 951R , t he pressure co ef ficient w it hin the shockw ave zone fo r the rect ang ular blade is steeply decreased f rom 1. 3 t o 0. 4, w hile t he one f or t he blade w it h a sweptback 30 ang le is decreased slo wly fro m 1. 25 t o 0. 7. Additio nally , t he m ax imum pressure dif ference bet w een t he upper and lo w er blade surfaces f or t he abo ve t w o cases is clo se ( appro ximat ely 1. 1 in r = 0. 976R ) .

3. 3. 3 Rectangular t apered bl ade w ith an anhedral ef fect ( w it h an anhedr al ang le &= 20 ) T he ef f ect of an anhedral blade t ip is show n in t he cont rast betw een F ig. 8 and Fig . 10. At r = 0. 984R , t he pressur e co ef ficient w it hin the shockw ave zo ne f or t he rect ang ular blade is decreased f rom 1. 25 t o 0. 5, while the o ne of t he blade w it h an anhedral angle ( & = 20) is decreased slo w ly f rom 1. 25 to 0. 55. Furt herm ore , t he max imum pressur e diff er ence betw een t he upper and low er blade surf aces is clo se. Ho wever, t he pressure dif-

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71

ference of the w ho le upper and lo w er blade sur faces f or t he blade w it h an anhedral ef fect is a lit t le big ger than t hat of t he rect ang ular blade.

References
[ 1] G ray R B . V ort ex modeling f or rot or aerodyn amics[ J ] . Journal of t he A merican Helicopt er Societ y , 1992, 37( 1) : 8- 10. [ 2] Landgrebe A J. Th e w ak e geom et ry of a h overing helicop ter rot or an d it s in fl uence on rot or perf ormance [ J ] . Journal of t he A merican Helicopt er S ociety, 1972, 17( 4) : 3- 15. [ 3] Felker F F, Q uackenbu sh T R, Bl iss D B, et al . Comparis on s of predict ed and meas ured rot or perform ance in h over us ing a new fr ee wake an al ysis [ J ] . V ert ica, 1990, 14 ( 3) : 361- 383. [ 4] Caradonna F X, Isom M P. Su bsonic and t rans onic pot ent ial f low over h elicopt er bl ades [ J ] . A IA A J , 1972, 10 ( 12 ) : 1606- 1612. [ 5] S rinirasan G R, Raghavan V , D uque E P N , et al. Fl owf ield analysis of modern h elicopt er rot ors in hover by N avierS tok es m et hod[ J ] . J ou rnal of t he A merican Hel icopt er S ociety , 1993, 38( 3) : 3- 13. [ 6] Lamb H . Hydrodynamics [ M ] . N ew Y ork: Dover Pub licat ions, 1945. 210- 241. [ 7] S amant S S, G ray R B . A s emi -empirical correct ion f or t he vort ex core eff ect on h overing rot or w ake geomet ries [ A ] . In: Proceedings of 33rd A nnual Forum of t he A mer ican Helicopt er Societ y [ C ] . W as hingt on D C: A merican Helicop ter S ociet y, 1977. [ 8] [ M ] . : , 1983. ( Handbook of aerodynamics [ M ] . Beijing: N at ion al Defence Indu st ry Press , 1983. ( in Chin ese) ) [ 9] D eese J E. N um erical experiment s w it h t he s plit f lux vect or f orm of t he Eu ler equ at ions [ R] . A IA A 83-0122, 1983. [ 10] Caradonna F X, T ung C. Experiment al and analyt ical st udies of a model helicopt er r ot or in hover [ R] . N A SA T M -81232, 1981.

Fig . 9 Sw eptback blade result ( M at i p = 0. 9, + = 6 , = 30 , &= 0 ) ( a) r = 0. 951R ; ( b) r = 0. 976R

Biography:
CAO Yi hua Bo rn in 1962, pro fesso r , docto ral super viso r , he receiv ed his P h D degr ee in A ir cr aft Eng ineering fro m N anjing U niv ersity of A er onautics and A st ro nautics in 1990. He st udied at the I nstitute of Flig ht M echanics at T U Braunschw eig , G ermany during 1996-1997. His resear ch inter ests include fluid mechanics, aero dy namics, flig ht dynamics and flig ht co nt ro l. He is a member of t he A mer ican Helico pt er So ciety .

Fig. 10 T he r esult of r ectangular t aper ed blade with an anhedra l effect ( M at i p = 0. 9, + = 6 , = 0 , &= 20 )