Comparison of Computed and Experimental Flowfields of the RAH-66 Helicopter

摘要

This paper compares and evaluates numerical and experimental flowfields of theRAH-66 Comanche helicopter. The numerical predictions were obtained by solving the Thin-Layer Navier-Stokes equations. The computations use actuator disks to investigate the main and tail rotor effects upon the fuselage flowfield. A suite of flow conditions, rotor thrusts and fuselage-rotor-tail configurations were tested. In addition, the tunnel model and the computational geometry were based upon the same CAD definition. Computations were performed for an isolated fuselage configuration and for a rotor on configuration. Comparisons between the measured and computed surface pressures show areas of correlation and some discrepancies. Local areas of poor computational grid-quality and local areas of geometry differences account for the differences.