A High-efficiency Trim Method for CFD Numerical Calculation of Helicopter Rotors

In order to resolve the trimming difficulty in rotor CFD calculations, a high-efficiency and improved “delta trim method” is established to compute the blade control settings that are necessary to identify the blade motion. In this method, a simplified model which combines the blade element theory and different inflow models is employed to calculate the control settings according to the target aerodynamic forces, then it is coupled into a CFD solver with unsteady Navier-Stokes equations by the delta methodology, which makes the control settings and aerodynamics calculated and updated in the meantime at every trim cycle. Different from the previous work, the current research combines the inflow model based on prescribed wake theory. Using the method established, the control settings and aerodynamic characteristics of Helishape 7A, AH-1G and Caradonna-Tung rotors are calculated. The influence of different inflow models on trimming calculations is analyzed and the computational efficiency of the current “delta trim method” is compared with that of the “CFD-based trim method”. Furthermore, for the sake of improving the calculation efficiency, a novel acceleration factor method is introduced to accelerate the trimming process. From the numerical cases, it is demonstrated that the current “delta trim method” has higher computational efficiency than “CFD-based trim method” in both hover and forward flight, and up to 70% of the amount of calculation can be saved by current “delta trim method” which turns out to be satisfactory for engineering applications. In addition, the proposed acceleration factor shows a good ability to accelerate the trim procedure, and the prescribed wake inflow model is always of better stability than other simple inflow models whether the acceleration factor is utilized in trimming calculations.

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