Helicopter Rotor Aerodynamics

Introduction, detailed acquaintance and implementation of various methods adequate for the design of optimal helicopter (or other unmanned multicopter aircraft) rotor. In accordance with the student's research topic, structures of different scales and requirements (meant to work in different operating conditions) will be considered. Throughout the course various software packages or programming languages can be used.

Recognition of the most influential rotor parameters and modeling of the surrounding flow field. Adequate choice and rational understanding of the employed numerical methods as well as boundary conditions definition. Individual work in the form of numerical computation of the unknown physical quantities of the flow field and their post-processing. Work in different research areas - applied mathematics, programming, computational aerodynamics, optimization, etc. and their coupling.

General characteristics of the flow field appearing around rotors; Momentum theory; Flow around blades; Blade element theory; Vortex methods; Combined models; CFD techniques; Rotor in hover; Rotor in vertical flight; Rotor in progressive flight; Rotor geometry optimization.

Computation of the flow field around helicopter rotor defined in accordance with the selected research topic.

There are no mandatory conditions/prerequisites for course attendance.

Classroom, projector, computer (laptop), computational software tools, wind tunnel.

Total assigned hours: 65

New material: 30
Elaboration and examples (recapitulation): 20

Auditory exercises: 0
Laboratory exercises: 0
Calculation tasks: 0
Seminar paper: 0
Project: 0
Consultations: 0
Discussion/workshop: 0
Research study work: 0

Review and grading of calculation tasks: 0
Review and grading of lab reports: 0
Review and grading of seminar papers: 0
Review and grading of the project: 10
Test: 0
Test: 0
Final exam: 5

Activity during lectures: 0
Test/test: 0
Laboratory practice: 0
Calculation tasks: 0
Seminar paper: 0
Project: 70
Final exam: 30
Requirement for taking the exam (required number of points): 30

Leishman G: Principles of Helicopter Aerodynamics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000.; Seddon J: Basic Helicopter Aerodynamics. BSP Professional Books, Oxford, 1990.; Prouty RW: Helicopter Performance, Stability, and Control. Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, 2002.; NASA/TM-2018-219758, Wind Tunnel and Hover Performance Test Results for Multicopter UAS Vehicles. NASA, Moffett Field, 2018.; Ferziger JH, Perić M: Computational Methods for Fluid Dynamics. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, 2002.