Aerodynamic design optimization of helicopter rotor blades including airfoil shape for hover performance

This study proposes a process to obtain an optimal helicopter rotor blade shape for aerodynamic performance in hover flight. A new geometry representation algorithm which uses the class function/shape function transformation (CST) is employed to generate airfoil coordinates. With this approach, airfoil shape is considered in terms of design variables. The optimization process is constructed by integrating several programs developed by author. The design variables include twist, taper ratio, point of taper initiation, blade root chord, and coefficients of the airfoil distribution function. Aerodynamic constraints consist of limits on power available in hover and forward flight. The trim condition must be attainable. This paper considers rotor blade configuration for the hover flight condition only, so that the required power in hover is chosen as the objective function of the optimization problem. Sensitivity analysis of each design variable shows that airfoil shape has an important role in rotor performance. The optimum rotor blade reduces the required hover power by 7.4% and increases the figure of merit by 6.5%, which is a good improvement for rotor blade design.     

Numerical investigation of full scale coaxial main rotor aerodynamics in hover and vertical descent

The original free vortex wake model was used for numerical investigation. Calculation of the aerodynamic characteristics in hover and vertical descent modes in the range of vertical descent speed of 0–30 m/s including the Vortex Ring State (VRS) area was performed. The calculations were carried out under the condition of variable blade pitch angle values providing a fixed time-average thrust value. Visualization data of free vortex wake shapes, flow structures, and velocity fields were obtained and analyzed. The time-dependences of the rotor’s thrust and torque coefficients were obtained and analyzed. The obtained data allows determining the boundaries of the VRS area by various criteria such as rotor thrust and torque pulsations, growth of rotor power consumption relative to the hover, growth of rotor induced velocities relative to the hover, and growth of the required rotor blade pitch angles values. The results of the study are compared with experimental and calculated data of other authors and can significantly supplement the available results of experimental and computational studies in this area.     

Hover performance of helicopter main and tail rotors with swirl velocities

It is important to quickly predict the hover performance of main and tail rotors with sufficient precision for helicopter design. To investigate the effects of swirl velocities on the hover performance of main and tail rotors, and give a better prediction for the hover performance, a flight performance model was derived and a swirl velocity model was coupled into it. The test data of the UH-60A helicopter were used for validation. When the blade loading coefficient of the main rotor was higher than 005, the effects of the swirl velocities on the main rotor power became significant. The swirl velocities increased the profile torque of the main rotor. The increased torque required the tail rotor to produce more thrust with more power consumption. At a higher blade loading coefficient of the main rotor of 012, the swirl velocities increased the main rotor power, tail rotor power and total power by 380%, 524% and 508%, respectively. The profile power increase of the main rotor caused by the profile swirl velocity was less than that of the induced swirl velocity, but the power increase was higher at high rotor blade loadings. Considering the swirl velocities in the main rotor can improve the prediction precision of the hover performance, especially at high blade loadings      

基于不确定性的旋翼转速优化直升机参数设计

为了提高旋翼转速优化直升机总体参数设计质量,基于不确定性多学科设计优化方法,对旋翼转速优化直升机的参数设计进行了研究。首先对最优旋翼转速的不确定性进行分析与建模,同时也考虑了直升机加工制造、材料老化引起的不确定性因素,对比发现最优旋翼转速是旋翼转速优化直升机设计中的主要不确定性因素;然后在协同优化框架下,分别建立了直升机飞行性能、直升机重量、飞行稳定性与变转速涡轴发动机性能计算模型;最后以续航性能为系统学科,悬停性能、飞行稳定性分别作为子学科,进行多学科的不确定性优化设计,得到了3种不确定性优化设计方案。通过对比分析可以发现：第2种方案为旋翼转速优化直升机的最佳参数设计方案,该方案满足悬停需用功率低于350 kW,飞行稳定性指数小于0.8等约束条件的概率不低于95.46%,并且直升机的最大航时期望值也较大。     

旋翼涡环状态气动特性和参数变化的风洞试验

为了研究旋翼下降和涡环状态的流场及气动特性,在中国空气动力研究与发展中心Φ5m立式风洞中,完成了BO-105直升机桨尖马赫数相似旋翼模型的流场和测力试验。试验获得了旋翼悬停和垂直下降状态桨盘附近的流场,同时测量得到了模型旋翼拉力、扭矩等参数的变化。试验结果表明:高速粒子图像测速法(PIV)相机成功捕捉到了下降率增大时旋翼涡量向桨盘附近聚集的过程。垂直下降率在0.9左右时旋翼拉力和扭矩最小,分别只有对应总距角悬停状态拉力的60%和80%左右。在深度涡环状态,旋翼周围存在大尺度涡结构周期性形成和破碎现象,这种现象是旋翼拉力和扭矩剧烈波动的原因。斜下降相对垂直下降而言,旋翼的拉力和扭矩损失都较小。抛物线桨尖外形与常规的矩形桨尖外形相比,垂直下降气动特性并无显著区别。      

Computational Research of the Main Rotor Hover and Vertical Descent States Based on the Nonlinear Blade Vortex Model

The research is conducted of aerodynamic performance of the Mi-8 helicopter main rotor in the hover state and the vertical descent state, including vortex ring states (VRSs). Total and distributed aerodynamic performance, wake patterns, and main rotor flow patterns are calculated. The findings and results were compared with those provided by other researchers.     

倾转旋翼机旋翼对机翼气动干扰的建模及分析

建立了一个耦合旋翼自由尾迹模型和机翼面元模型的悬停状态旋翼/机翼气动干扰迭代计算方法,用于分析旋翼对机翼的气动干扰影响.在该方法中,为较好地模拟大桨盘载荷及大扭转桨叶的气动特征,旋翼桨叶采用Weissinger-L升力面模型;为考虑厚度效应及机翼的升力影响,建立了包含源面元和偶极子面元的厚度机翼模型;为正确模拟旋翼桨尖涡与机翼表面间的贴近干扰,采用了一个"分析数值匹配法"的"贴近涡/面干扰模型".应用上述方法,对单独倾转旋翼下洗流分布以及旋翼对机翼的气动干扰影响进行了计算.结果表明,在旋翼下洗流场的干扰下,机翼各剖面都产生向下载荷,但并非简单地随拉力系数的增大而增大;机翼受到的旋翼干扰影响与旋翼下洗流沿桨叶展向变化密切相关.     

共轴刚性旋翼的悬停气动性能和流场干扰

建立了一种基于RANS (雷诺平均Navier Stokes)方程的共轴刚性旋翼悬停流场数值模拟方法。使用旋翼亚声速和跨声速悬停实验结果,验证了该方法的准确性。对刚性旋翼XH 59A流场模拟表明:气动特性与飞行实验结果比较吻合,共轴旋翼特性优于同实度单旋翼,具备更高的悬停效率。对比半实度单旋翼气动性能,受下旋翼对流动的抽吸影响,上旋翼性能略有下降;下旋翼性能下降更甚,主要是因为处于上旋翼下洗流中,其有效迎角减小。数值方法获得该旋翼最高悬停效率为67%,总距角为14°,14°。对比研究表明,共轴刚性旋翼较常规共轴旋翼极间距小,悬停性能更高。      

Modeling of helicopter flight imitation in the vortex ring state

A method of imitating the helicopter flight on a flight simulator is proposed for the vortex ring state hover flight. Algorithms of artificial neural networks are used for the modeling. The method allows modeling the characteristics of the main rotor's loading during a dangerous descent of the helicopter.     

无轴承尾桨构型对性能、载荷的影响实验研究

本文利用某型机的无轴承尾桨叶,重新设计的尾桨毂、尾操纵组件,实现了不同的尾桨构型,并在通用尾桨试验台上进行悬停状态下不同构型对性能、载荷的影响实验研究,并对多种无轴承尾桨构型试验的性能、载荷试验数据进行了对比分析,得出剪刀式无轴承构型可提高尾桨拉力至少3%以上。     

基于升力面自由尾迹的直升机旋翼悬停性能参数影响研究

 最大悬停效率(FM_max)作为衡量旋翼悬停性能的常用指标,反映了旋翼能达到的最大悬停效率,但不能反映旋翼在一定桨叶载荷范围内保持高悬停效率的能力,本文给出了旋翼悬停保持能力的定义.为更准确地反映桨叶涡量分布,建立了基于升力面理论的桨叶气动模型;考虑有弯度翼型的影响,将涡量布置于翼型中弧线,随后基于自由尾迹模型、耦合刚性桨叶挥舞运动方程、翼型动态失速模型以及二阶精度时间步进格式建立了升力面自由尾迹方法.通过计算模型旋翼在不同桨尖马赫数下的悬停效率,并与试验数据对比,验证了方法的准确性.相比于升力线自由尾迹方法,建立的升力面自由尾迹分析方法能显著提高旋翼悬停效率计算精度.最后分析旋翼关键设计参数对悬停性能的影响,得到设计参数影响旋翼悬停保持能力的新规律.     

倾转螺旋桨飞行器桨叶的气动设计研究

针对小型倾转螺旋桨独特的工作特性,在研究国外有关倾转旋翼桨叶设计现状的基础上,本文运用了遗传算法对桨叶的参数进行了寻优设计分析,以满足不同飞行状态的性能要求。设计结果表明,由本文提出的方法设计的螺旋桨与普通螺旋桨相比,在不损失巡航推进效率的同时,可显著增加悬停效率,提高飞机的悬停性能。     

旋翼螺旋桨巡航及悬停状态气动特性研究

为了提高旋翼螺旋桨的综合气动性能,本文基于叶素-动量组合理论,并耦合了计算流体力学（Computational fluid dynamics,CFD）方法,设计了一款旋翼螺旋桨,进行了螺旋桨巡航及悬停状态的气动特性计算及流场仿真,计算结果与风洞试验数据进行了对比分析。研究结果表明,在进行网格无关性研究基础上,数值计算与风洞试验的误差较小,设计点平均计算误差为3.0%左右,所采用的CFD计算方法具有较高准确性和可信度。设计的旋翼螺旋桨巡航效率高于80%,悬停效率高于70%,具备了较好的巡航及悬停的综合气动性能。     

Exploring the Detached-Eddy Simulation for Main Rotor Flows

This paper applies the Detached-Eddy Simulation (DES) method to resolve a larger part of the flow spectrum around rotor blades in hover and forward flight. A comparison between DES and Unsteady Reynolds–Averaged Navier–Stokes simulation was carried out for the case of a forward flying rotor suggesting that DES has great potential for rotor applications.     

悬停状态旋翼间干扰对四旋翼升力影响分析

四旋翼无人机旋翼间干扰对旋翼升力产生较大影响。建立考虑旋翼直径、弦长、变桨距、转速等因素的适用于四旋翼飞行器的等效盘模型。对该模型添加动量源,在Fluent中计算孤立单旋翼悬停状态下不同转速的旋翼升力,并与实验数据进行对比,验证等效盘模型的有效性。使用上述方法,计算和分析悬停状态时不同旋翼间距下旋翼间的相互干扰对四旋翼升力的影响。结果表明:相同转速下,旋翼间距越小,旋翼间干扰越强烈,升力损失越大。     

悬停状态旋翼尾迹边界测量

介绍了用试验来定量确定悬停状态旋翼尾迹边界的方法，从物理本质分析了悬停状态旋翼尾迹的湍流特性，阐述了如何用热线风速仪来测量尾迹的湍流度并用湍流度来确定桨尖涡的位置和尾迹边界。揭示了悬停状态旋翼尾迹边界的一些特点，最后将试验结果与国外的相应研究结果作了比较，发现两者吻合得较好。     

改进型CLOR桨尖旋翼气动特性试验研究及数值分析

 通过风洞试验及数值模拟对具有改进型CLOR(CLOR-Ⅱ)桨尖的旋翼悬停和前飞状态气动特性开展研究。在CLOR桨尖旋翼试验及数值分析的基础上,考虑旋翼非定常流场特点,兼顾旋翼悬停和前飞气动性能,对旋翼桨叶的气动外形进行了改进,主要包括采用多种翼型优化配置以综合改善旋翼前行侧压缩性及后行侧桨叶失速特性,并考虑旋翼前飞状态对其桨叶动力学特性的需求,重新设计了桨尖前后缘的外形。在风洞中分别对3种旋翼进行多种状态条件下的试验研究,为从流动细节上获得不同桨尖旋翼的气动特性差别,采用计算流体力学(CFD)方法对试验状态进行了数值模拟对比。对更高转速状态进行模拟,结果表明相对于其他两种旋翼,CLOR-Ⅱ桨尖旋翼在改善跨声速特性和提高失速迎角等方面具有明显优势,而且综合提高了旋翼悬停和前飞气动性能。     

High-resolution simulation for rotorcraft aerodynamics in hovering and vertical descending flight using a hybrid method

A high-resolution simulation tool for rotorcraft aerodynamics is developed by coupling CFD with a Vorticity Transport Model (VTM). An Eulerian-based CFD module is used to model the blade near body flowfield, and a Lagrangian-based VTM module is employed for vortex tracking in the far wake. The coupling procedure is implemented by transmitting vortex sources to the VTM module and feeding boundary conditions back to the CFD module. The presented CFD/VTM hybrid solver is firstly validated by hover cases of three different rotor configurations. Simulation results, including the blade surface pressure distribution, rotor downwash, and hover figure of merit, exhibit favorable correlations with available experimental data. Then, a rotor operated in vertical descending flight with a fixed collective pitch is investigated. It is shown that the CFD/VTM coupling method is suitable for rotor wake simulation. Wake instabilities (far wake breakdown in hover and toroidal wake pattern in the vortex ring state) are successfully demonstrated with a moderate computational cost.     

Effects of blade aspect ratio and taper ratio on hovering performance of cycloidal rotor with large blade pitching amplitude

In recent years, a lot of research work has been carried out on the cycloidal rotors. However, it lacks thorough understanding about the effects of the blade platform shape on the hover efficiency of the cycloidal rotor, and the knowledge of how to design the platform shape of the blades. This paper presents a numerical simulation model based on Unsteady ReynoldsAveraged Navier–Stokes equations(URANSs), which is further validated by the experimental results. The effects of blade aspect ratio and taper ratio are analyzed, which shows that the cycloidal rotors with the same chord length have quite similar performance even though the blade aspect ratio varies from a very small value to a large one. By comparing the cycloidal rotors with different taper ratios, it is found that the rotors with large blade taper ratio outperform those with small taper ratio. This is due to the fact that the blade with larger taper ratio has longer chord and hence better efficiency. The analysis results show that the unsteady aerodynamic effects due to blade pitching motion play a more important role in the efficiency than the blade platform shape. Therefore we should pay more attention to the blade airfoil and pitching motion than the blade platform shape.The main contributions of this paper include: the analysis of the effects of aspect ratio and taper ratio on the hover efficiency of cycloidal rotor based on both the experimental and numerical simulation results; the finding of the main influencing factors on the hover efficiency; the qualitative guidance on how to design the blade platform shape for cycloidal rotors.     

悬停状态下无铰旋翼模型气弹稳定性试验

通过悬停状态下2m直径旋翼模型试验, 研究了旋翼结构参数及动力学参数对无铰旋翼桨叶气弹稳定性的影响, 参数包括桨叶总距角、预锥角、预掠角、摆振频率和旋翼转速。桨叶为挥-摆-扭耦合结构, 并能构成面内柔软和面内刚硬旋翼。试验采用在垂直方向以摆振后退型频率进行周期变距激振的新方法, 得到了与理论相一致的结论。