A method for predicting helicopter wake geometry, wake-induced flow and wake effects on blade airloads
Wake model and computer program to compute geometries, flows and velocity influence coefficients for helicopter blade load calculations
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Wake model and computer program to compute geometries, flows and velocity influence coefficients for helicopter blade load calculations
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Investigations, aimed at developing a better understanding of the complex flow field in high performance centrifugal compressors were performed. Newly developed measuring techniques for unsteady static and total pressures as well as flow directions, and a digital data analysis system for fluctuating signals were thoroughly tested. The loss-affected mixing process of the distorted impeller discharge flow was investigated in detail, in the absolute and relative system, at impeller tip speeds up to 380 m/s. A theoretical analysis proved good coincidence of the test results with the DEAN-SENOO theory, which was extended to compressible flows.
Sound generation by uniform flow over a cylinder at the Reynolds number of 200 is calculated. The incompressible, time dependent flow field is first computed by standard computational fluid dynamics techniques using a stream function/vorticity formulation. The sound radiation is then obtained by integrating over the flow field with the Coriolis acceleration as the source term and a low frequency Green's function technique. Time histories, spectra, and directivity of the radiated sound are obtained. Comparisons with experimental data, where possible, indicate the feasibility of this computational aeroacoustics approach.
Previously cited in issue 10, p. 1476, Accession no. A83-25940
Calculated results for the flowfield structure and surface quantities are presented for an axisymmetric representation of an aeroassist flight experiment vehicle. The direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is used to perform the calculations, since the flow is highly nonequilibrium about the vehicle during both the compression and expansion phases. The body configuration is an elliptically blunt nose followed by a skirt with a circular radius and an afterbody. Freestream conditions correspond to a single point along the entry trajectory at an altitude of 90 km and a velocity of 9.9 km/s. The calculations account for nonequilibrium in the translational and internal modes, dissociation, ionization, and thermal radiation. The degree of dissociation is large, but the maximum ionization is only about 2 percent by mole fraction. The bluntforebody flow experiences a high degree of thermal nonequilibrium in which the translational temperature is generally greater than the internal temperature. However, as the flow expands about the aerobrake skirt and afterbody, the internal temperature is generally greater than the translational temperature.
Calculated results for the flowfield structure and surface quantities are presented for an axisymmetric representation of an aeroassist flight experiment vehicle. The direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is used to perform the calculations, since the flow is highly nonequilibrium about the vehicle during both the compression and expansion phases. The body configuration is an elliptically blunt nose followed by a skirt with a circular radius and an afterbody. Freestream conditions correspond to a single point along the entry trajectory at an altitude of 90 km and a velocity of 9.9 km/s. The calculations account for nonequilibrium in the translational and internal modes, dissociation, ionization, and thermal radiation. The degree of dissociation is large, but the maximum ionization is only about 2 percent by mole fraction. The blunt forebody flow experiences a high degree of thermal nonequilibrium in which the translational temperature is generally greater than the internal temperature. However, as the flow expands about the aerobrake skirt and afterbody, the internal temperature is generally greater than the translational temperature.
This paper describes the rationale for conducting the proposed radiation measurement in the afterbody region of the Aeroassist Flight Experiment (AFE) vehicle, the results of the calculations of expected radiation intensities performed to date, and the instrumentation for the measurement. The experiment, named the Afterbody Radiometry Experiment (ARE), is one of the experiments that will be carried on board the AFE vehicle. The paper collates the existing experimental data to show the possibility that there may be substantial radiative heating of the afterbody region of an Aeroassisted Space Transfer Vehicle, which necessitates an experiment of the kind proposed. Calculations of the radiative heating rate to the base of the AFE are, qualitatively, in fair agreement with previous experimental work, which indicated that the radiative heating of the base is about 5 percent of that at the stagnation point.
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This progress report documents the accomplishments achieved in the period from December 1, 1992 until November 30, 1993. These accomplishments include publications, national and international presentations, NASA presentations, and the research group supported under this grant. Topics covered by documents incorporated into this progress report include: active control of asymmetric conical flow using spinning and rotary oscillation; supersonic vortex breakdown over a delta wing in transonic flow; shock-vortex interaction over a 65-degree delta wing in transonic flow; three dimensional supersonic vortex breakdown; numerical simulation and physical aspects of supersonic vortex breakdown; and prediction of asymmetric vortical flows around slender bodies using Navier-Stokes equations.
Far-field boundary conditions for external flow problems have been developed based upon long-wave perturbations of linearized flow equations about a steady state far field solution. The boundary improves convergence to steady state in single-grid temporal integration schemes using both regular-time-stepping and local-time-stepping. The far-field boundary may be near the trailing edge of the body which significantly reduces the number of grid points, and therefore the computational time, in the numerical calculation. In addition the solution produced is smoother in the far-field than when using extrapolation conditions. The boundary condition maintains the convergence rate to steady state in schemes utilizing multigrid acceleration.
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Flow field throughout wind tunnel containing rotor with sharply defected blades, noting reversed flow effect in front of wake
The present study, which is the first of a series of investigations of low pressure turbine (LPT) boundary layer aerodynamics, is aimed at providing detailed unsteady boundary layer flow information to understand the underlying physics of the inception, onset, and extent of the separation zone. A detailed experimental study on the behavior of the separation zone on the suction surface of a highly loaded LPT-blade under periodic unsteady wake flow is presented. Experimental investigations were performed on a large-scale, high-subsonic unsteady turbine cascade research facility with an integrated wake generator and test section unit. Blade Pak B geometry was used in the cascade. The wakes were generated by continuously moving cylindrical bars device. Boundary layer investigations were performed using hot wire anemometry at Reynolds number of 110,000, based on the blade suction surface length and the exit velocity, for one steady and two unsteady inlet flow conditions, with the corresponding passing frequencies, wake velocities, and turbulence intensities. The reduced frequencies cover the entire operation range of LP-turbines. In addition to the unsteady boundary layer measurements, blade surface pressure measurements were performed at Re = 50,000, 75,000, 100,000, 110,000, and 125,000. For each Reynolds number, surface pressure measurements are carried out at one steady and two periodic unsteady inlet flow conditions. Detailed unsteady boundary layer measurement identifies the onset and extension of the separation zone as well as its behavior under unsteady wake flow. The results, presented in ensemble-averaged and contour plot forms, help to understand the physics of the separation phenomenon under periodic unsteady wake flow.
The results of a numerical investigation to predict the flow field including wakes and mixing in axial-flow compressor rotors are presented. The wake behavior in a moderately loaded compressor rotor is studied numerically using a 3D incompressible Navier-Stokes solver with a high Reynolds number form of a turbulence model. The equations are solved using a time dependent implicit technique. The agreement between the measured data and the predictions is good; including the blade boundary-layer profiles, wake mean-velocity profiles, and decay. The ability of the pseudocompressibility scheme to predict the entire flow field including the near and far wake profiles and its decay characteristics, effect of loading, and the viscous losses of a 3D rotor flow field are demonstrated. The mixing in the downstream regions away from the hub and annulus walls is dominated by wake diffusion. In regions away from the walls the radial mixing is predominantly caused by the transport of mass, momentum, and energy by the radial component of velocity in the wake.
Rotor wake geometries are predicted by a process similar to the startup of a rotor in a free stream. An array of discrete trailing and shed vortices is generated with vortex strengths corresponding to stepwise radial and azimuthal blade circulations. The array of shed and trailing vortices is limited to an arbitrary number of azimuthal steps behind each blade. The remainder of the wake model of each blade is an arbitrary number of trailing vortices. Vortex element end points were allowed to be transported by the resultant velocity of the free stream and vortex-induced velocities. Wake geometry, wake flow, and wake-induced velocity influence coefficients are generated by this program for use in the blade loads portion of the calculations. Blade loads computations include the effects of nonuniform inflow due to a free wake, nonlinear airfoil characteristics, and response of flexible blades to the applied loads. Computed wake flows and blade loads are compared with experimentally measured data. Predicted blade loads, response and shears and moments are obtained for a model rotor system having two independent rotors. The effects of advance ratio, vertical separation of rotors, different blade radius ratios, and different azimuthal spacing of the blades of one rotor with respect to the other are investigated.
Hypersonic wake flows behind the Aeroassist Flight Experiment (AFE) geometry are analyzed using two Navier-Stokes flow solvers. Many of the AFE wake features observed in ballistic-range shadowgraphs are simulated using a simple, two-dimensional semicylinder geometry at moderate angles of attack. At free-stream conditions corresponding to a Hypersonic Free Flight Facility (HFFF) AFE experiment, the three-dimensional base flow for the AFE geometry is computed using an ideal-gas, Navier-Stokes solver. The computed results agree reasonably well with the shadowgraphs taken at the HFFF. An ideal-gas and a nonequilibrium Navier-Stokes solver have been coupled and applied to the complete flow around the AFE vehicle at the free-stream conditions corresponding to a nomial trajectory point. Limitations of the coupled ideal-gas and nonequilibrium solution are discussed. The nonequilibrium base flow solution is analyzed for the wake radiation and the radiation profiles along various lines of sight are compared. Finally, the wake unsteadiness is predicted using experimental correlations and the numerical solutions. An adaptive grid code, SAGE, has been used in all the simulations to enhance the solution accuracy. The grid adaptation is found to be necessary in obtaining base flow solutions with accurate flow features.