NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF HUB AND FUSELAGE INTERFERENCE TO REDUCE HELICOPTER DRAG

Kurzfassung

A numerical investigation was carried out to predict the mutual interference between helicopter components. The investigation was based on the solution of RANS equations in three dimensions using unstructured grids. Results are presented for six different test cases under steady forward flight conditions at Mach number equal to 0.204. These test cases refer to different combinations of reduced scale models of helicopter fuselage, rotor hub and main rotor modelled by an actuator disc. Analysis of the results revealed that while significant correlation between the hub and fuselage loads, and a non trivial influence of the actuator disc on these loads could be observed, the drag breakdown of the hub was not effectively altered.