The Vortex Ring State (VRS) is a critical aerodynamic hazard for rotorcraft, characterized by highly unsteady fluid–structure interactions and severe low-frequency vibrations. While data-driven deep learning models have shown promise in aviatio...
The precise regulation of the hinge moment and pitch angle driven by the pitch-regulated mechanism is crucial for modulating thrust requirements and ensuring stable attitude control in Martian coaxial rotorcraft. Nonetheless, the aerodynamic hinge mo...
The flight controllability and safety of unmanned compound rotorcraft are closely related to their aerodynamic characteristics. During forward flight, complex aerodynamic interference effects arise among the rotor, propeller, wing, fuselage, and hori...
Comprehensive rotorcraft simulation codes are the workhorses for designing and simulating helicopters and their rotors under steady and unsteady operating conditions. These codes are also used to predict helicopters’ limits as they approach rot...
A review of morphing actuation systems in relation to rotary-wing aerial platforms is presented. The research highlights an inadequate maturation of rotary actuation systems, characterised by a scarcity of (1) comprehensive full-scale experimental re...
Side-by-side propellers characterise the architecture of most new electric aircraft (eVTOLs) designed in recent years for urban air mobility. The aerodynamic interaction between side-by-side propellers represents one of the key phenomena that charact...
This article represents a full estimation of helicopter rotor aerodynamic characteristics in ground effect conditions through the application of a coupled empirical blade element–momentum theory algorithm. The main focus of this research includ...
This study presents an extended Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT) framework for predicting the hover performance of an EC135-class light-twin helicopter rotor while quantifying the impact of sectional aerodynamic uncertainty on global rotor metric...
Virtual control surfaces for the optimization of steady and unsteady airloads on a compressor cascade are assessed numerically. The effects of mechanical surfaces are realized with plasma actuators, located both on the pressure and on the suction sid...
The study of the complex aerodynamics that characterise tiltrotors represents a challenge for computational fluid dynamics tools. URANS numerical solvers are typically used to explore the aerodynamic features that characterise the different flight co...
This paper investigates the aeroacoustic interactions of small hovering rotors, using both experiments and computations. The experiments were conducted in an anechoic chamber with arrays of microphones setup to evaluate the azimuthal and polar direct...
Owing to its inherent flight safety, low takeoff and landing requirements, and favorable economic efficiency, the autogyro UAV, especially its electric and hybrid-electric variants, has become a core platform for low-altitude aviation missions such a...
As a high resolution airload with accurate rotor wake is pivotal for rotor BVI (Blade-vortex interaction) analysis, a hybrid method with combined Navier-Stokes equation, viscous wake model, and FW-H (Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings) equation is developed fo...
The large reverse flow region of the rotor with a high advance ratio is an important factor that affects the performance improvement of helicopters. This paper examines the dynamic stall of the airfoil in the reverse flow region of the rotor to devel...
Given the fast-evolving context of electrical vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOL) based on the concept of tiltrotor aircraft, this work describes a framework aimed at the preliminary aerodynamic design and optimization of innovative lifting...
Rotorcraft stability is an inherently multidisciplinary area, including aerodynamics of rotor and fuselage, structural dynamics of flexible structures, actuator dynamics, control, and stability augmentation systems. The related engineering models can...
Cross-media vehicles, which combine the advantages of airplanes and submarines, are capable of performing complex tasks in different media and have attracted significant interest in recent years. In practice, however, cross-media rotorcrafts face num...
The German Aerospace Center is currently developing a new design environment for rotorcraft, which combines sizing, simulation and evaluation tasks into one toolbox. The complete environment applies distributed computation on the servers of the vario...
In the framework of fast rotorcraft, smoothness and flushness of external aerodynamic surfaces present challenges for high-speed conditions, where aerodynamics is the driver of helicopter performance. For AIRBUS-RACER helicopter the main landing gear...
Optimization methods are increasingly used to solve problems in aeronautical engineering. Typically, optimization methods are utilized in the design of an aircraft airframe or its structure. The presented study is focused on improvement of aircraft f...
A mid-fidelity aerodynamic solver based on the vortex particle method for wake modeling, DUST, is coupled through the partitioned multi-physics coupling library preCICE to a multibody dynamics code, MBDyn, to improve the accuracy of aeroelastic numer...
The aerodynamic design of rotor blades is challenging, and is crucial for the development of helicopter technology. Previous aerodynamic optimizations that focused only on limited design points find it difficult to balance flight performance across t...
To study the effects of synthetic jet control on the aerodynamic performance of a rotor in forward flight, we conducted a series of experiments with varying rotor rotation speeds and free stream velocities. In the test, we used a six-component balanc...
The interaction between the rotating blades and the external fluid in non-axial flow conditions is the main source of vibratory loads on the main rotor of helicopters. The knowledge or prediction of the produced aerodynamic loads and of the dynamic b...
An electrically controlled rotor (ECR), also known as a swashplateless rotor, is an active rotor system that reduces the vibration load of the rotor through active control while achieving primary control by using a trailing edge flap system instead o...
This paper deals with a non-contact method to identify the aerodynamic propeller constants of the Parrot AR.Drone quadrotor. The experimental setup consists of a microphone installed in the flight arena to record audio data. In terms of methodology,...
The present work is part of the Clean Sky 2 project Full-Fairing Rotor Head Aerodynamic Design Optimization (FURADO), which deals with the aerodynamic design optimization of a full-fairing rotor head for the Rapid And Cost-Effective Rotorcraft (RACER...
Camber deflection concepts for a VR-12 rotorcraft airfoil were studied for the optimization of unsteady aerodynamics, including dynamic stall conditions and wing–wing interactions during pitching. The designs are based on deflections of the lea...
Flapping-wing flight offers a promising solution for aerial mobility in low-density environments such as the Martian atmosphere, where conventional rotorcraft faces significant performance constraints. However, the coupled aerodynamic and structural...
The deployment of multi-rotor drones in applications such as package delivery and urban air mobility is increasingly prevalent. Aerodynamic interference between rotors in traditional quadrotor drones impairs performance, and vertical offset is a prom...
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have slowly but steadily emerged as a research and commercial hotspot because of their widespread applications. Due to their agility, compact size, and ability to integrate multiple sensors, they are mostly sought for...
A micro air vehicle (MAV) is a class of miniature unmanned aerial vehicles that has a size restriction and may be autonomous. Fixed-wing MAVs are very attractive for outdoor surveillance missions since they generally offer better payload and enduranc...
To fulfill the objective of a predictive tool for rotorcraft, comprehensive analysis (CA) needs to be capable of providing both accurate and time-efficient predictions of rotor air loads and structural loads. The more recent methodology based on comp...
Understanding the unsteady aerodynamic behavior of quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is critical for improving flight stability, control, and performance, particularly in complex operational environments. In closely spaced multirotor configurat...
Aerodynamic interactions between rotors are important factors affecting the performance of in-plane multirotor Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) or drones, which are the majority of small size UAVs (or mini-drones). Optimal design requires knowledge of th...
After one year of operation, the Ingenuity rotorcraft and the Perseverance rover continue their exploration missions on Mars. Succeeding the technology demonstration phase, by proving its flight capabilities, Ingenuity transitioned to a new mission s...
Rotor dynamic inflow modeling is essential for rotorcraft flight dynamics analysis and control, particularly under the rarefied Martian atmospheric conditions. This study develops a reduced-order state-space dynamic inflow model for Mars coaxial roto...
As an important part of the helicopter, the rotor directly affects flight safety and flight quality. Knowledge of the rotor dynamic behaviors is significant for validating and optimizing the performance of the helicopter rotor system. In this study,...
The aerodynamic noise of an open rotor is one of the critical challenges that must be considered in its design and application. FODNOPP, a program specifically programmed to predict the aerodynamic discrete noise of single- and counter-rotating open...
When a rotorcraft carries an external slung load, flight speed is often limited by the fear of divergent oscillations, rather than vehicle performance. Since slung objects can be of any shape, incorporating the aerodynamics with sufficient accuracy t...
In the research field of rotorcraft aerodynamics, there are two fundamental challenges: resolving the complex vortex structures in rotor wakes and representing the moving rotor blades in the ambient airflow. In this paper, we address the first challe...
In aerospace engineering, high-order computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solvers suitable for three-dimensional unstructured meshes are less developed than expected. The Runge–Kutta discontinuous Galerkin (RKDG) finite element method with compac...
The aviation sector faces the challenge of reducing emissions while meeting growing demand for passenger transport. Recent research has proposed a hybridised axial compressor concept using a vaneless, counter-rotating configuration with independently...
Tail-sitters aim to combine the advantages of fixed-wing aircraft and rotorcraft but require a robust and fast stabilization strategy to perform vertical maneuvers and transitions to and from aerodynamic flight. The research conducted in this work ex...
This paper focuses on the development and demonstration of a novel blade morphing system within a whirl tower facility. The scope is to investigate the behavior of the proposed architecture under representative loads, demonstrating its capability to...
In this paper, the accuracy of an in-house Actuator Line (AL) model is tested on aeroelastic simulations of a Wind Turbine (WT) rotor and a helicopter Main Rotor (MR) under uniform free-stream flow. For the scope of aeroelastic analyses, the AL model...
The rotorcraft blade tip vortex rolled up by the blade tip when the rotor rotates at high speed will produce a complex induced velocity field, which will have an important impact on the aerodynamic load and performance of the rotor. For this reason,...
Bioinspired morphing offers a powerful route to higher aerodynamic and hydrodynamic efficiency. Birds reposition feathers, bats extend compliant membrane wings, and fish modulate fin stiffness, tailoring lift, drag, and thrust in real time. To captur...
Helicopter vibration is an inherent characteristic of rotorcraft operations, arising from transmission dynamics and unsteady aerodynamic loading, posing challenges to flight control and longevity of structural components. Excessive vibration elevates...
Ice accretion along aircraft leading edges, particularly at stagnation line parting strips, remains difficult to remove using conventional electrothermal anti-icing systems. These systems require continuous high-power heating to maintain the stagnati...