Numerical Investigation of Multi-Rotor Configurations

Chiew, Jonathan J ; Aftosmis, Michael J

关键词: CARTESIAN COORDINATES;    COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS;    ELECTRIC BATTERIES;    ELECTRIC PROPULSION;    GRID GENERATION (MATHEMATICS);    HELICOPTERS;    HOVERING;    INTERACTIONAL AERODYNAMICS;    PROPULSION SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONS;    PROPULSION SYSTEM PERFORMANCE;    ROTOR AERODYNAMICS;    ROTORS;    UNIFORM FLOW;    WIND TUNNEL TESTS;    WING PLANFORMS;   

RP-ID  :  ARC-E-DAA-TN49672

美国|英语

来源: NASA Technical Reports Server

【 摘 要 】

The development of a conservative, parallel blade-element rotor model and its implementation into an adaptive Cartesian method is briefly reviewed. The model is first validated and then applied in edgewise forward flight for a variety of configurations. Validation studies comparing torque required for an isolated rotor match XV-15 wind tunnel trends well. Simulations of a simple quadrotor in “×” and “+” configurations are performed, demonstrating how the trailing rotor(s) lose thrust because of unfavorable aerodynamic interactions with the forward rotor(s), while power required remains near constant. A modified “+1” configuration is also examined, where the lateral rotors are brought inboard by 25%. This configuration showed a further 2% performance improvement over the “+” arrangement. The final paper will also include validation of a tandem rotor configuration with wind tunnel data as well as results and analysis of unsteady quadcopter simulations. In addition, a 4th configuration (× will be analyzed.