Influence of Rotor Inflow, Tip Loss, and Aerodynamics Modeling on the Maximum Thrust Computation in Hover

Comprehensive rotorcraft simulation codes are the workhorses for designing and simulating helicopters and their rotors under steady and unsteady operating conditions. These codes are also used to predict helicopters’ limits as they approach rotor stall conditions. This paper focuses on the prediction of maximum rotor thrust when hovering (due to stall limits) and the thrust and power characteristics when the collective control angle is further increased. The aerodynamic factors that may significantly affect the results are as follows: steady vs. unsteady aerodynamics, steady vs. dynamic stall, blade tip losses, curvature flow, yaw angle, inflow model, and blade-vortex interaction. The inflow model and tip losses are found to be the most important factors. For real-world applications vortex-based inflow models are considered the best choice, as they reflect the blade circulation distribution within the inflow distribution. Because the focus is on the impact of aerodynamic modeling on rotor stall, the blade design and its flexibility are intentionally not considered.