Rotorcraft Model Enhancements to Support Land and Sea-Based Testing and Operational Analysis

We Propose to enhance rotorcraft simulation model to support land and sea-based flight testing and operational analysis. The model enhancement will resolve the long-time perplexing problems related to the fundamental simulation requirement for an accurate prediction of rotorcraft response in full range of flight. The solution proposed is to improve the widely used finite state dynamic wake model with the effect of rotor wake distortion. The new formulation will approach the problem in a systematic way and address the interaction of various disciplines related to the flight simulation modeling. The innovations of this proposal can be summarized as follows: (1) Inclusion of the tip vortex distortion effect in the finite state dynamic wake model to overcome the poor prediction of rotorcraft off-axis response; (2) Modification of the finite state dynamic wake model in the vortex ring state to generate a simulation model applicable in full flight conditions; (3) The finite state dynamic wake model will be formulated so that the effects of other rotors, fuselage, and aerodynamic surfaces (such as wings in a tiltrotor) can be included; (4) Integration of the enhanced finite state dynamic wake model into a comprehensive simulation program (FLIGHTLAB) so that the inter-disciplinary couplings will be addressed.