Validation of a flow simulation for a helicopter fuselage including a rotating rotor head

Abstract

This work presents a detailed analysis of the aerodynamic characteristics for a helicopter fuselage including a skid-landing-gear and a rotating rotor head. Thereby, a special emphasis is set on the rotor head. The results are obtained through numerical simulations based on the incompressible URANS equations. The modelling of the rotating rotor head, including collective and cyclic pitch, is based on a sliding mesh interface in combination with mesh deformation. The numerical simulations are performed under the same conditions and at the same scale as for the existing wind tunnel data. Thus a detailed validation study based on the broad experimental data base could be performed. For this purpose the experimental data base was further extended by rotor phase locked stereo particle image velocimetry measurements.