Rotor Airloads Prediction Using Multidisciplinary Coupling

This work couples a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code and rotorcraft computational structural dynamics (CSD) code to calculate helicopter rotor airloads. An iterative loose coupling methodology is used to couple the CFD and CSD codes on a per revolution, periodic basis. The CFD code uses a high fidelity, Navier-Stokes, overset grid methodology with first principles-based wake capturing. For a UH-60A Blackhawk helicopter, three challenging level flight conditions spanning the flight envelope are computed. Airloads results are compared favorably with UH-60A Airloads Program flight test data. Overall, the results are a noteworthy improvement over state-of-the-art aerodynamics used in rotorcraft comprehensive codes.