Simulation of Dynamic Stall on an Elastic Rotor in High-Speed Turn Flight

A highly loaded, high-speed turn flight of Airbus Helicopters' Bluecopter demonstrator helicopter is simulated to investigate dynamic stall using a loose computational fluid dynamics/structural dynamics (CFD/CSD) coupling of the flow solver FLOWer and the rotorcraft comprehensive code CAMRAD II. The rotor aerodynamics is computed using a high-fidelity delayed detached-eddy simulation (DDES). A three-degree-of-freedom trim of an isolated rotor is performed, yielding main-rotor control angles that agree well with the flight-test measurements. The flow field in this flight condition is found to be highly unsteady and complex, featuring massively separated flow, blade–vortex interaction, multiple dynamic-stall events, and shock-induced separation. The computed pitch-link loads are compared to flight-test measurements. This shows that all CFD/CSD cases underpredict the amplitudes of the flight test and yield phase shifts. However, overall trends agree reasonably. Also, varying the computational setup reveals that the shear stress transport–DDES turbulence model performs better than Spalart–Allmaras–DDES, that the consideration of the rotor hub and fuselage improves the agreement with flight-test data, and that the elastic twist plays only a minor role in the dynamic-stall events.