Advanced Rotorcraft Aerodynamic Modules for Flight Testing Support, Simulation and Analysis

Accurate performance prediction is crucial to the simulation, analysis and flight testing support of rotorcraft. In this regard, current analysis tools inadequately model key phenomena like blade dynamic stall, rotor tip loads, and rotor downwash because of their failure to predict the true unsteady three-dimensional nature of the aerodynamic environment near the rotor. Continuum Dynamics, Inc. (CDI) has recently developed breakthrough technologies in real-time lifting panel and free-vortex wake modeling that will allow us to address these issues with unprecedented fidelity at low CPU cost. A new fast lifting surface blade aerodynamics module is proposed building on CDI's state-of-the-art vortex lattice and fast panel solution technology that will, for the first time, allow accurate modeling of three-dimensional rotor tip effects for arbitrarily-shaped rotors in general maneuvering flight. Coupling this new technology with CDI's extensively validated, full-span free-vortex wake model, will provide unparalleled predictions of unsteady loading and details of the rotor flow field for general flight conditions including high rate of descent. Finally, a new efficient, accurate blade dynamic stall model is proposed utilizing an enhanced combination of fast panel/vortex algorithms, rounding out the ability of the solution techniques to model all the crucial aerodynamic phenomena identified in the solicitation.