Evaluation of Airfoil Dynamic Stall Characteristics for Maneuverability

Abstract : The loading of an airfoil during dynamic stall is examined in terms of the augmented lift and the associated penalties in pitching moment and drag. It is shown that once stall occurs and a leading-edge vortex is shed from the airfoil there is a unique relationship between the augmented lift, the negative pitching moment, and the increase in drag. This relationship, referred to here as the dynamic stall function, shows limited sensitivity to many parameters that influence rotors in flight. For single-element airfoils it appears that there is little that can be done to improve rotorcraft maneuverability except to provide good static clmax characteristics and the chord or blade number that is required to provide the necessary rotor thrust. The loading on a helicopter blade during a severe maneuver is examined and it is shown that the blade's dynamic stall function is similar to that obtained in two-dimensional wind tunnel testing. An evaluation of three-dimensional effects for flight and an oscillating wing in a wind tunnel suggests that the two problems are not proper analogues. The utility of the dynamic stall function is demonstrated by evaluating sample theoretical predictions based on semi-empirical stall models and CFD computations. The approach is also shown to be useful in evaluating multi-element airfoil data obtained from dynamic stall tests.

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