Rapid Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Methodology for Rotorcraft Maneuver Analysis

The lack of proper estimation of air loads encountered during transient maneuvers introduces excessive design conservatism. This proposal offers to develop a computational tool, based on the lower order momentum source rotor model, capable of analyzing steady and transient maneuvers. This tool will be implicitly coupled with a government supplied comprehensive analysis code to resolve the kinematics of the complete aircraft. In Phase I, the momentum source method will be extended to predicting maneuvers loads and an overall strategy will be developed for implicit coupling of the comprehensive analysis code. While the main focus will be on single rotor and fuselage in Phase I, complete vehicles with multiple rotors will be initiated in Phase I Option to be completed in Phase II period. The strategy for the coupling between CFD and comprehensive analysis code developed in Phase I will be implemented and validated in Phase II. The entire system will be wrapped with a graphical user interface and will have pre-/post-processing tools integrated in the tool for ease of use.