Coupling Mid-Fidelity Aerodynamics and Multibody Dynamics for the Aeroelastic Analysis of Rotary-Wing Vehicles

Alberto Savino, Alessandro Cocco, Alex Zanotti, Matteo Tugnoli, Pierangelo Masarati and Vincenzo Muscarello
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Alberto Savino: Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Aerospaziali, Politecnico di Milano, Via La Masa 34, 20156 Milan, Italy
Alessandro Cocco: Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Aerospaziali, Politecnico di Milano, Via La Masa 34, 20156 Milan, Italy
Alex Zanotti: Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Aerospaziali, Politecnico di Milano, Via La Masa 34, 20156 Milan, Italy
Matteo Tugnoli: Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Aerospaziali, Politecnico di Milano, Via La Masa 34, 20156 Milan, Italy
Pierangelo Masarati: Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Aerospaziali, Politecnico di Milano, Via La Masa 34, 20156 Milan, Italy
Vincenzo Muscarello: Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Aerospaziali, Politecnico di Milano, Via La Masa 34, 20156 Milan, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 21, 1-28

Abstract: A mid-fidelity aerodynamic solver based on the vortex particle method for wake modeling, DUST, is coupled through the partitioned multi-physics coupling library preCICE to a multibody dynamics code, MBDyn, to improve the accuracy of aeroelastic numerical analysis performed on rotary-wing vehicles. In this paper, the coupled tool is firstly validated by solving simple fixed-wing and rotary-wing problems from the open literature. The transient roll maneuver of a complete tiltrotor aircraft is then simulated, to show the capability of the coupled solver to analyze the aeroelasticity of complex rotorcraft configurations. Simulation results show the importance of the accurate representation of rotary wing aerodynamics provided by the vortex particle method for loads evaluation, aeroelastic stability assessment, and analysis of transient maneuvers of aircraft configurations characterized by complex interactional aerodynamics. The limited computational effort required by the mid-fidelity aerodynamic approach represents an effective trade-off in obtaining fast and accurate solutions that can be used for the preliminary design of novel rotary-wing vehicle configurations.

Keywords: aeroelasticity; fluid-structure interaction; rotary-wing aerodynamics; multibody dynamics; tiltrotor; computational fluid dynamics; vortex particle method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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