Computational Fluid Dynamics as a Support to Counter-Rotating Open-Rotor Wind-Tunnel Test Analysis

The rising price of oil since the early 21st century produced a regain of interest in the counter-rotating open rotor, seen as an economic propulsive device for future transport aircraft. Although simple methods are used for design and optimization, the need for advanced methods to assess aerodynamic and acoustic performance of a counter-rotating open rotor within a complex configuration and to support wind-tunnel tests analysis is rising. In this paper, a methodology for complex counter-rotating open-rotor installations is set up to compute an actual test-rig geometry using high performance computing capabilities of ONERA computational-fluid-dynamics software elsA. Comparing the numerical results with the wind-tunnel test data enables to assess both the computational-fluid-dynamics code accuracy and the representativity of the wind-tunnel test, which relies on a somewhat intrusive test rig through a better understanding of the flowfield around the test rig.