| Author | Mustafa Dindar |
|---|---|
| Title | An Adaptive Finite Element Procedure for Rotorcraft Aerodynamics and Aeroelasticity |
| Year | 1998 |
| School | Aeronautical Engineering |
| Institution | RPI |
| Abstract | An adaptive, parallel computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique is developed to compute rotor-blade aerodynamics. For this purpose an error indicator based on interpolation error estimate is formulated and coded into an adaptive finite element framework. It is shown that the error indicator is effective in resolving the global features of the flow-field. Furthermore, for efficiency and problem size considerations, once the interpolation errors are reduced to acceptable levels, the adaptive refinement is done only in regions affected by the vortical flows. To do this, a novel vortex core detection technique is used to capture vortex tubes. The combination of interpolation error estimate and vortex core detection technique proved to be very effective in computing vortical flow-field of rotor blades. Example adaptive, parallel calculations of hovering rotor blades, requiring 1-3 million tetrahedral elements, are presented. Finally, an extension of the current finite element CFD technology to rotor-blade aeroelasticity calculations is presented. For this purpose a CSD (Computational Structural Dynamics) procedure is coupled with the adaptive finite element CFD solver. Using the CFD-CSD coupling methodology, a hingeless stiff in-plane rotor blade is analyzed for its aeroelastic deformations and vibration frequencies in hover flow conditions. Calculated results are compared against experiments and similar numerical studies. |
| PDF File |  Download |