A new rotor dynamic wake distortion model, which can be used to account for the rotor transient wake distortion effect on inflow across the rotor disk during helicopter maneuvering and transitional flight in both hover and forward flight conditions, is developed. The dynamic growths of the induced inflow perturbation across the rotor disk during different transient maneuvers, such as a step pitch or roll rate, a step climb rate and a step change of advance ratio are investigated by using a dynamic vortex tube analysis. Based on the vortex tube results, a rotor dynamic wake distortion model, which is expressed in terms of a set of ordinary differential equations, with rotor longitudinal and lateral wake curvatures, wake skew and wake spacing as states, is developed. Also, both the Pitt-Peters dynamic inflow model and the Peters-He finite state inflow model for axial or forward flight are augmented to account for rotor dynamic wake distortion effect during helicopter maneuvering flight. To model the aerodynamic interaction among main rotor, tail rotor and empennage caused by rotor wake curvature effect during helicopter maneuvering flight, a reduced order model based on a vortex tube analysis is developed. Both the augmented Pitt-Peters dynamic inflow model and the augmented Peters-He finite state inflow model, combined with the developed dynamic wake distortion model, together with the interaction model are implemented in a generic helicopter simulation program of UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and the simulated vehicle control responses in both time domain and frequency domain are compared with flight test data of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in both hover and low speed forward flight conditions.

Near wake is the region of wake flow just behind the trailing edge of the body where the flow is strongly influenced by the upstream flow conditions and also perhaps by the charac­teristics of the body. The present work is concerned with the study of the development of turbulent near wake behind an infinitely yawed flat plate. The turbulent near wake behind an infinitely yawed flat plate is the simplest of the three-dimensional turbulent near wake flows. The present study aims at providing a set of data on the turbulent near wake behind an infinitely yawed flat plate and also at understanding the development and structure of the near wake. Detailed measurements of mean and turbulent quantities have been made using 3-hole probe, X-wire and 3-wire hotwire probes. Further an asymptotic analysis of the two-dimensional turbulent near wake flow has been formulated for the near wake behind an infinitely yawed flat plate. The feature that the near wake which is dominated by mixing of the oncoming turbulent boundary layer retains, to a large extent, the memory of the turbulent structure of the boundary layer, has been exploited to develop this analysis. The analysis leads to three regions of the wake flow (the inner near wake, the outer near wake and the far wake) for which the governing equations are derived. The matching conditions among these regions lead to logarithmic variations in both normal and longitudinal directions in the overlapping regions surrounding the inner wake. These features are validated by the present results. A computational study involving seven well known turbulence models was also under­taken in order to assess the performance of the existing turbulence models in the prediction of the turbulent near wake behind an infinitely yawed flat plate. In this study all the seven models are implemented into a common flow solver code, thus eliminating the influence of grid size, initial conditions and different numerical schemes while making the comparison. This study shows that the K - e model performs better than other models in predicting the near wake behind an infinitely yawed flat plate.

The resolution of the complex physics of rotating configurations is critical for any engineering analysis that requires multiple frames of reference. Two well-known applications are in the rotorcraft and wind energy industries. Rotor wake impingement from rotor-fuselage and wind turbine-tower interactions impact structural and acoustic characteristics. Additionally, parasite drag resulting from rotorcraft hubs may result in severe limitations on forward flight vehicle performance. Complex turbulent wakes from rotors and hubs impinging on downstream empennage can create adverse aeroelastic behavior and can affect handling qualities. Numerical simulations of these flows require state-of-the-art Navier Stokes methods using dynamic overset grids. However, many current methods typically used in industry result in wakes that dissipate essential features. In order to address these concerns, two advancements are introduced in this thesis. Feature-based grid adaptation on dynamic overset grids has been developed and demonstrated with an unstructured Navier Stokes solver. The unique feature of the adaptation technique is that it is applied globally on the overset grid system except within the boundary layer. In concert with grid adaptation, an efficient parallelized search algorithm for solution interpolation over massively distributed systems has been created. This results in cost-effective interpolation that retains the numerical order of accuracy and has been verified in both space and time. The improvements have been demonstrated for rotor-fuselage interaction and a generic rotating hub. Detailed analysis of convergence of the methodology and sensitivity of the results to relevant parameters have also been included.