Immersed Boundary Method for Rotorcraft Aerodynamics Using OpenFOAM
Özet
The rotorcraft CFD literature review showed that efficient, easy to apply, and computationally
less expensive methods are still a need for the design and performance predictions of
rotorcraft. Immersed Boundary Method (IBM) and Virtual Blade Model (VBM) based
simulations have the potential to minimize the user input and computational expense while
providing reasonably accurate results. Distinctive property of the IBM method is that, the
whole simulation is run on a Cartesian grid that does not conform to the solid boundary.
So that, in order to define the boundary conditions, the governing equations near solid
boundaries are modified. Virtual Blade Model is a validated and verified way of modeling the
aerodynamics of the rotors. It provides the benefit of using Navier-Stokes equations, instead
of wake modeling, without being computationally expensive. In this work, an IBM code
from a different study and VBM is integrated in the finite volume based Navier-Stokes solver
Open Field Operation and Manipulation (OpenFOAM) platform specifically for rotorcraft
simulations. The integrated code is verified and validated with the extensively studied wind
tunnel experiment of a rotorcraft in forward flight. Finally, the result is compared and
discussed against body conformal methods. Although some differences are observed, it is
concluded that the results are on par with the body-conformal methods.
