A Preconditioned Euler Flow Solver for Simulation of Helicopter Rotor Flow in Hover

In the present study, a preconditioned Euler flow solver is developed to accurately and efficiently compute the inviscid flowfield around hovering helicopter rotor. The preconditioning method proposed by Eriksson is applied. The three-dimensional preconditioned Euler equations written in a rotating coordinate frame are solved by using a cell-centered finite volume Roe’s method on unstructured meshes. High-order accuracy is achieved via the reconstruction of flow variables using the MUSCL interpolation technique. Calculations are carried out for an isolated rotor in hover for different conditions and the computed surface pressure distributions are compared with the experimental data. The study indicates that preconditioning increases the convergence rate of solution and improves the accuracy of the results especially at inboard sections of the blades.