Ship-based operations require that helicopters operate close to and partially above a ship deck. This presents the pilot with an extremely challenging task. Unlike a land-based environment, the helicopter operates in a partial ground effect condition where not only does the magnitude of the rotor inflow vary, but the inflow distribution over the rotor disk does as well. The variation of both the magnitude and distribution of induced flow strongly affects the helicopter dynamics. There have been both analytical and experimental works that have enriched our understanding of this phenomena. This paper presents an approach for the development of a simulation model using a fully coupled helicopter rotor wake/ship deck interference in a comprehensive rotorcraft simulation program, FLIGHTLAB. In this approach, the ship deck is modeled by source/doublet panels based on an enhanced three-dimensional panel method. The Peters/He finite state wake model is used for modeling the rotor wake. The results show that this modeling combination is computationally efficient and applicable for the simulation of helicopter shipboard operations.
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