Variable Fidelity Optimization of Required Power of Rotor Blades: Investigation of Aerodynamic Models and their Application

Abstract

An investigation of aerodynamic models with varying fidelity is performed with respect to the required power for different rotor blade geometries. Concluding from this nvestigation low, mid and high fidelity methods are selected. For hover these comprise a finite state inflow model, Euler computations on coarse meshes and highly resolved RANS computations, both with periodic boundaries. For forward flight, a prescribed wake model, single bladed Euler computations and a Chimera setup for RANS computations are selected. A comparative study between between single fidelity and variable fidelity surrogate based optimization is performed, where resource savings of up to 64.8% are seen for forward flight optimizations.