Ship Dynamics/Ship Air Wake Interface

"Shipboard landings of V/STOL aircraft have identified both unique dynamic interface issues and the need for an accurate simulation module for practicing shipboard operations. The unsteady, unpredictable air wake generated by large ships presents problemsto rotorcraft pilots because it can cause the vehicle to become unstable. A flight simulator for shipboard operations would be invaluable to rotorcraft pilots by providing a safe environment to experience ship air wake phenomena.It is proposed that the flow field for a ship and aircraft be solved using a coupled viscous computational fluid dynamics(CFD) flow solver for various wind speeds and directions. The matrix solutions, created by CFD solver, Rot3dc,will be stored in adatabase laying the foundation for a real time simulation module.In phase I, the ship's motion is limited to translation and yaw. During the Option period, a turbulance model will be added and the ship's motion will be extended to include pitch and roll.During Phase II, improvements to the simulation module and graphical user interface will be added. The simulation module develpoed under this initiative will find wide usage in the Navy rotorcraft organization and rotorcraft industry. This proposal offersa simulation tool that will lay the foundation for load and wake calculations of rotorcraft during shipboard operations.Sukra Helitek's flagship Rot3DC is used currently for several flight regimes including vortex r