Aerodynamic analysis and optimization of wings and tail surfaces of a compound helicopter with box wing

Abstract

DLR was involved in the aerodynamic design and evaluation of the innovative high-speed compound helicopter demonstrator RACER, developed under the lead of Airbus Helicopters. This paper presents low-fidelity analyses and optimizations performed to supplement RANS simulations in the design and evaluation process of the RACER wings and tail. A toolchain based on the 3D panel method VSAERO was implemented to quickly perform such tasks. The presented applications include component interaction analyses, optimization of circulation distribution, evaluation of flap efficiency and evaluation of different tail designs. The results helped to gain better understanding of the complex RACER configuration aerodynamics including interaction effects of various components. Moreover, the computational effort could be considerably reduced by the proposed method compared to RANS simulations. Nevertheless, one must be aware of the method restrictions and carefully check whether their application is reasonable for each use case.