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At least 145 records · Page 8

LDV measurements in dynamically separated flows

Two component, phase averaged mean velocity data have been obtained with an Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV) system, on the upper surface, near the leading edge of an oscillating airfoil undergoing compressible dynamic stall. In particular, the effect of oscillation amplitude has been studied. The results show that at an oscillation amplitude of 10 degrees, a separation bubble forms, that eventually bursts on the upstroke, well beyond the static stall angle. At 2 degrees amplitude, the bubble forms on the upstroke, but dynamic stall occurs on the downstroke. The results reveal new flow physics and the data sets serve as valuable quantitative information for validation of unsteady flow codes at transitional Reynolds numbers. The maximum velocity seen in the flow is about 1.6 times the free stream value and it occurs slightly downstream of the suction peak location. Some of the measurement difficulties are also discussed.

Chandrasekhara, M. S.↗

Effect of an extendable slat on the stall behavior of a VR-12 airfoil

Experimental and computational tests were performed on a VR-12 airfoil to determine if the dynamic-stall behavior that normally accompanies high-angle pitch oscillations could be modified by segmenting the forward portion of the airfoil and extending it ahead of the main element. In the extended position the configuration would appear as an airfoil with a leading-edge slat, and in the retracted position it would appear as a conventional VR-12 airfoil. The calculations were obtained from a numerical code that models the vorticity transport equation for an incompressible fluid. These results were compared with test data from the water tunnel facility of the Aeroflightdynamics Directorate at Ames Research Center. Steady and unsteady flows around both airfoils were examined at angles of attack between 0 and 30 deg. The Reynolds number was fixed at 200,000 and the unsteady pitch oscillations followed a sinusoidal motion described by alpha = alpha(sub m) + 10 deg sin(omega t). The mean angle (alpha(sub m)) was varied from 10 to 20 deg and the reduced frequency from 0.05 to 0.20. The results from the experiment and the calculations show that the extended-slat VR-12 airfoil experiences a delay in both static and dynamic stall not experienced by the basic VR-12 airfoil.

Dehugues, P. Plantin↗

Fluid mechanics mechanisms in the stall process of helicopters

Recent experimental results from airfoils in the Mach number, Reynolds number, or reduced frequency ranges typical of helicopter rotor blades have identified the most influential flow mechanisms in the dynamic stall process. The importance of secondary shed vortices, downstream wake action, and the flow in the separated region is generally acknowledged but poorly understood. By means of surface pressure cross-correlations and flow field measurements in static stall, several new hypotheses have been generated. It is proposed that vortex shedding may be caused by acoustic disturbances propagating forward in the lower (pressure) surface boundary layer, that wake closure is a misnomer, and that the shed vortex leaves a trail of vorticity that forms a turbulent free shear layer. The known dynamic stall flow mechanisms are reviewed and the potential importance of recently proposed and hypothetical flow phenomena with respect to helicopter blade aeroelastic response are assessed.

Young, W. H., Jr.↗

2-D and 3-D oscillating wing aerodynamics for a range of angles of attack including stall

A comprehensive experimental investigation of the pressure distribution over a semispan wing undergoing pitching motions representative of a helicopter rotor blade was conducted. Testing the wing in the nonrotating condition isolates the three-dimensional (3-D) blade aerodynamic and dynamic stall characteristics from the complications of the rotor blade environment. The test has generated a very complete, detailed, and accurate body of data. These data include static and dynamic pressure distributions, surface flow visualizations, two-dimensional (2-D) airfoil data from the same model and installation, and important supporting blockage and wall pressure distributions. This body of data is sufficiently comprehensive and accurate that it can be used for the validation of rotor blade aerodynamic models over a broad range of the important parameters including 3-D dynamic stall. This data report presents all the cycle-averaged lift, drag, and pitching moment coefficient data versus angle of attack obtained from the instantaneous pressure data for the 3-D wing and the 2-D airfoil. Also presented are examples of the following: cycle-to-cycle variations occurring for incipient or lightly stalled conditions; 3-D surface flow visualizations; supporting blockage and wall pressure distributions; and underlying detailed pressure results.

Piziali, R. A.↗

A generalized wind turbine cross section as a reduced-order model to gain insights in blade aeroelastic challenges

In this work, we present an approach to study the aeroelastic stability of a wind turbine by focusing on the dynamics of a blade cross section. We present a methodology to obtain a reduced-order model of the blade dynamics in the form of generalized cross-sectional quantities that approximates the aerodynamic and structural properties of the full blade. The motivation for the work is to gain a physical understanding of the influence of aerodynamic models such as dynamic wake and dynamic stall on the frequency and damping of the structure using a reduced-order model with low computational cost. The model may be coupled to two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics softwares or engineering unsteady airfoil aerodynamics models accounting for dynamic wake and dynamic stall. In the latter case, we can obtain monolithic state-space forms of the aeroelastic system of equations, which simplifies the determination of the modal parameters and therefore the study of stability. The work investigates wind turbines in operation or at standstill, where vortex-induced vibrations and stall-induced vibrations, respectively, might be an issue. The implementation is made available as part of the open-source Python package WELIB and as part of the open-source unsteady aerodynamic driver of OpenFAST.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Prediction of SA 349/2 GV blade loads in high speed flight using several rotor analyses

The influence of blade dynamics, dynamic stall, and transonic aerodynamics on the predictions of rotor loads in high-speed flight are presented. Data were obtained from an Aerospatiale Gazelle SA 349/2 helicopter with three Grande Vitesse blades. Several analyses are used for this investigation. First, blade dynamics effects on the correlation are studied using three rotor analyses which differ mainly in the method of calculating the blade elastic response. Next, an ONERA dynamic stall model is used to predict retreating blade stall. Finally, advancing blade aerodynamic loads are calculated using a NASA-developed rotorcraft analysis coupled with two transonic finite-difference analyses.

Gaubert, Michel↗

Rotor Airloads Prediction Using Loose Aerodynamic Structural Coupling

This work couples a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code and rotorcraft computational structural dynamics (CSD) code to calculate helicopter rotor airloads across a range of flight conditions. An iterative loose (weak) coupling methodology is used to couple the CFD and CSD codes on a per revolution, periodic basis. The CFD uses a high fidelity, Navier-Stokes, overset grid methodology with first principles-based wake capturing. Modifications are made to the CFD code for aeroelastic analysis. For a UH-60A Blackhawk helicopter, four challenging level flight conditions are computed: 1) low speed (u = 0.15) with blade-vortex interaction, 2) high speed (u = 0.37) with advancing blade negative lift, 3) high thrust with dynamic stall (u = 0.24), and 4) hover. Results are compared with UH-60A Airloads Program fight test data. Most importantly, for all cases the loose coupling methodology is shown to be stable, convergent, and robust with full coupling of normal force, pitching moment, and chord force. In comparison with flight test data, normal force and pitching moment magnitudes are in good agreement. For the high speed and dynamic stall cases a phase lag in comparison with the data is seen, nonetheless, the shapes of the curves are very good. Overall, the results are noteworthy improvement over lifting line aerodynamics used in rotorcraft comprehensive codes.

Potsdam, Mark↗

Prediction of blade stresses due to gust loading

An analysis is developed for investigating the response of a rotor-fuselage system in a three-dimensional gust field wherein the gust velocity conponents can have arbitrary variation in space and time. Each rotor blade undergoes flap bending, lag bending and torsional deflections. The blades are divided into beam elements and each element consists of fifteen nodal degrees of freedom. Quasi-steady strip theory is used to obtain the aerodynamic loads. Unsteady aerodynamic effects are introduced through dynamic inflow modeling. Dynamic stall and reverse flow effects are also included. The fuselage is allowed five degrees of freedom: vertical, longitudinal, lateral, pitch and roll motions. The gust response equations are linearized about the vehicle trim state and the blade steady-state deflected position, and then solved by time integration. The blade bending moments, which determine blade stresses, are evaluated using the force summation technique. Systematic studies are made to identify the importance of several parameters including dynamic stall, forward speed, lag stiffness, gust profile, gust penetration rate and gust velocity direction.

Bir, Gunjit↗

Unsteady separation experiments on 2-D airfoils, 3-D wings, and model helicopter rotors

Information on unsteady separation and dynamic stall is being obtained from two experimental programs that have been underway at United Technologies Research Center since 1984. The first program is designed to obtain detailed surface pressure and boundary layer condition information during high amplitude pitching oscillations of a large (17.3 in. chord) model wing in a wind tunnel. The second program involves the construction and testing of a pressure-instrumented model helicopter rotor. This presentation describes some of the results of these experiments, and in particular compares the detailed dynamic stall inception information obtained from the oscillating wing with the unsteady separation and reverse flow results measured on the retreating blade side of the model rotor during wind tunnel testing.

Lorber, Peter F.↗

Effect of initial acceleration on the development of the flow field of an airfoil pitching at constant rate

We present results from a series of experiments where an airfoil is pitched at constant rate from 0 to 60 degrees angle of attack. It is well documented that the dynamic stall behavior of such an airfoil strongly depends on the nondimensional pitch rate K = dot-alpha C/(2U(sub infinity)), where C is the chord, dot-alpha the constant pitch rate, and U(sub infinity) the free stream speed. In reality, the actual motion of the airfoil deviates from the ideal ramp due to the finite acceleration and deceleration periods imposed by the damping of drive system and response characteristics of the airfoil. It is possible that the pitch rate alone may not suffice in describing the flow and that the details of the motion trajectory before achieving a desired constant pitch rate may also affect the processes involved in the dynamic stall phenomenon. The effects of acceleration and deceleration periods are investigated by systematically varing the acceleration magnitude and its duration through the initial acceleration phase to constant pitch rate. The magnitude and duration of deceleration needed to bring the airfoil motion to rest is similarly controlled.

Koochesfahani, M. M.↗

Navier-Stokes and Comprehensive Analysis Performance Predictions of the NREL Phase VI Experiment

A vortex lattice code, CAMRAD II, and a Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stoke code, OVERFLOW-D2, were used to predict the aerodynamic performance of a two-bladed horizontal axis wind turbine. All computations were compared with experimental data that was collected at the NASA Ames Research Center 80- by 120-Foot Wind Tunnel. Computations were performed for both axial as well as yawed operating conditions. Various stall delay models and dynamics stall models were used by the CAMRAD II code. Comparisons between the experimental data and computed aerodynamic loads show that the OVERFLOW-D2 code can accurately predict the power and spanwise loading of a wind turbine rotor.

NREL (NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY)↗

Navier-Stokes Simulation of UH-60A Rotor/Wake Interaction Using Adaptive Mesh Refinement

High-resolution simulations of rotor/vortex-wake interaction for a UH60-A rotor under BVI and dynamic stallconditions were carried out with the OVERFLOW Navier-Stokes code.a. The normal force and pitching moment variation with azimuth angle were in good overall agreementwith flight-test data, similar to other CFD results reported in the literature.b. The wake-grid resolution did not have a significant effect on the rotor-blade airloads. This surprisingresult indicates that a wake grid spacing of (Delta)S=10% ctip is sufficient for engineering airloads predictionfor hover and forward flight. This assumes high-resolution body grids, high-order spatial accuracy, anda hybrid RANS/DDES turbulence model.c. Three-dimensional dynamic stall was found to occur due the presence of blade-tip vortices passing overa rotor blade on the retreating side. This changed the local airfoil angle of attack, causing stall, unlikethe 2D perspective of pure pitch oscillation of the local airfoil section.

CFD Validation↗

Computational Fluid Dynamics Study of a Cross-Flow Marine Hydrokinetic Turbine and the Combined Influence of Struts and Helical Blades

A computational fluid dynamics study was performed for a cross-flow marine hydrokinetic turbine. The analysis was done in three dimensions and used the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes solver in the commercial code STAR-CCM+. The base turbine configuration is the RivGen(R) Turbine, designed by the Ocean Renewable Power Company. A convergence and uncertainty analysis was performed for both the spatial and temporal discretization; this was done using the base configuration, which features support struts and helical foils. Both struts and helical blades introduce three-dimensional flow effects, influencing the complex flow phenomenon of dynamic stall. The study compares the relative impact of struts on power performance and blade loading for both helical and straight blades, and found that for this turbine the relative loss in power from struts was lower with helical blades.

CFD↗

A DNN surrogate unsteady aerodynamic model for wind turbine loads calculations

A recurrent deep-neural network (DNN) surrogate model capable of modeling the unsteady aerodynamic response and dynamic stall behavior of wind turbine blades has been developed and validated for use in engineering design codes. The model is trained using a subset of the oscillating airfoil experiments conducted at the Ohio State University wind tunnel. The predictions from our DNN model show excellent agreement with the measured data and, in all cases, a marked improvement over the state-of-the-art unsteady aerodynamic models. The DNN-based unsteady aerodynamics model was integrated with OpenFAST to perform full-turbine load computations for the NREL-5MW rotor. The largest differences are observed for the inboard stations, particularly in the pitching moment response, when using the new surrogate model compared to the other models available in OpenFAST.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Specialists Meeting on Rotorcraft Dynamics, Moffett Field, Calif., February 13-15, 1974, Proceedings

Analysis of specific problems in rotorcraft dynamics. Topics include hingeless rotor theory, dynamic stall modelling, periodic systems identification, analysis of complex systems with phasing matrices, flapping stability, flap-lag dynamics at high advance ratios, finite element analysis and fuselage free-vibration characteristics, coupled rotor/frame vibration methods, gust response characteristics with unsteady stall effects, antiresonance theory, cyclic feathering motions and dynamic loads, control load envelope shaping, rotor aeroelasticity, use of Floquet theory, theory of proprotors and tilt-rotors, two-bladed teetering rotors, stability of air and ground resonance, vertical-plane pendulum absorbers, multicyclic jet-flap control, engine/frame interface dynamics, and others. The minutes of the question and answer periods following the presentations are presented in the supplement. Individual items are announced in this issue.

Source record↗

Predictions of Control Inputs, Periodic Responses and Damping Levels of an Isolated Experimental Rotor in Trimmed Flight

Since the early 1990s the Aeroflightdynamics Directorate at the Ames Research Center has been conducting tests on isolated hingeless rotors in hover and forward flight. The primary objective is to generate a database on aeroelastic stability in trimmed flight for torsionally soft rotors at realistic tip speeds. The rotor test model has four soft inplane blades of NACA 0012 airfoil section with low torsional stiffness. The collective pitch and shaft tilt are set prior to each test run, and then the rotor is trimmed in the following sense: the longitudinal and lateral cyclic pitch controls are adjusted through a swashplate to minimize the 1/rev flapping moment at the 12 percent radial station. In hover, the database comprises lag regressive-mode damping with pitch variations. In forward flight the database comprises cyclic pitch controls, root flap moment and lag regressive-mode damping with advance ratio, shaft angle and pitch variations. This report presents the predictions and their correlation with the database. A modal analysis is used, in which nonrotating modes in flap bending, lag bending and torsion are computed from the measured blade mass and stiffness distributions. The airfoil aerodynamics is represented by the ONERA dynamic stall models of lift, drag and pitching moment, and the wake dynamics is represented by a state-space wake model. The trim analysis of finding, the cyclic controls and the corresponding, periodic responses is based on periodic shooting with damped Newton iteration; the Floquet transition matrix (FTM) comes out as a byproduct. The stabillty analysis of finding the frequencies and damping levels is based on the eigenvalue-eigenvector analysis of the FTM. All the structural and aerodynamic states are included from modeling to trim analysis. A major finding is that dynamic wake dramatically improves the correlation for the lateral cyclic pitch control. Overall, the correlation is fairly good.

Gaonkar, G. H.↗

Analysis of stall flutter of a helicopter rotor blade.

A study of rotor blade aeroelastic stability was carried out, using an analytic model of a two-dimensional airfoil undergoing dynamic stall and on elastomechanical representation including flapping, flapwise bending and torsional degrees of freedom. Results for a hovering rotor demonstrated that the models used are capable of reproducing both classical and stall flutter. The minimum rotor speed for the occurrence of stall flutter in hover was found to be determined from coupling between torsion and flapping. Instabilities analogous to both classical and stall flutter were found to occur in forward flight. However, the large stall-related torsional oscillations which commonly limit aircraft forward speed appear to be the response to rapid changes in aerodynamic moment which accompany stall and unstall, rather than the result of an aeroelastic instability.

Crimi, P.↗

Analysis of stall flutter of a helicopter radar blade

A study of rotor blade aeroelastic stability was carried out, using an analytic model of a two-dimensional airfoil undergoing dynamic stall and an elastomechanical representation including flapping, flapwise bending and torsional degrees of freedom. Results for a hovering rotor demonstrated that the models used are capable of reproducing both classical and stall flutter. The minimum rotor speed for the occurrence of stall flutter in hover, was found to be determined from coupling between torsion and flapping. Instabilities analogous to both classical and stall flutter were found to occur in forward flight. However, the large stall-related torsional oscillations which commonly limit aircraft forward speed appear to be the response to rapid changes in aerodynamic moment which accompany stall and unstall, rather than the result of an aeroelastic instability. The severity of stall-related instabilities and response was found to depend to some extent on linear stability. Increasing linear stability lessens the susceptibility to stall flutter and reduced the magnitude of the torsional response to stall and unstall.

Crimi, P.↗