ROTOR UNSTEADY AIRLOADS

OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS, UNDER GOVERNMENT AND COMMERCIALSUPPORT, CONTINUUM DYNAMICS, INC. HAS MADE SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS IN COMPUTING THE UNSTEADY WAKES OF FIXED- AND ROTARY-WING AIRCRAFT. THIS PROGRESS, FOR THE MOST PART, RESULTED FROM THE SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF THE BASIC CURVEDVORTEX ELEMENT AS A FUNDAMENTAL WAKE ELEMENT BUILDING BLOCK AND A NOVEL GENERALIZED VORTICITY CONTOUR REPRESENTATION OF THE WAKE. IT NOW APPEARS THAT IT IS POSSIBLE AND PRACTICAL TO COMPUTE THE CONVECTIVE EVOLUTION OF A VORTEX WAKE IN FORWARD FLIGHT AND COUPLE THIS WAKE TO A BLADE DYNAMICS AND AERODYNAMICS MODEL SO THAT THE RELIABLE PREDICTION OF UNSTEADY ROTOR BLADE LOADING WOULD BE POSSIBLE. THE PHASE IRESEARCH EFFORT WOULD ASSESS THE PROMISE OF A NOVEL GENERALIZED VORTICITY CONTOUR WAKE REPRESENTATION TO FORM THE BASIS OF AN ADVANCED ROTOR AERODYNAMICS ANALYSIS FOR FORWARD FLIGHT.