Computational Analysis and Flow Physics of a Ducted Rotor in Edgewise Flight

This study examines the performance of the ducted rotor in hover and edgewise flight conditions. The flow over a threedimensional model of a ducted rotor was simulated using the Spalart–Allmaras Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes model implemented in a stabilized finite element method. A sliding mesh was used to conveniently account for the large-scale motion associated with rotor revolutions. The simulation results were analyzed to understand the flow physics and quantify the contributions of the rotor and various sections of the duct interior surfaces on the total aerodynamic forces (thrust, drag, and side force) and moments (pitching and rolling). In edgewise flight, freestream flow separates off the front of the duct inlet, causing a region of recirculating flow and upwash in the rotor plane. The upwash region biases rotor thrust production to the front of the disk. The swirl velocity further biases the region of flow separation over the inlet and upwash at the front of the rotor toward the retreating side of the disk. The shift of thrust production on the rotor and duct toward the front produces a strong nose-up pitching moment on the ducted rotor. The rear of the diffuser is a significant contributor to the total drag; this force includes a nose-down pitch moment, which partially negates the moment from the duct inlet. The rotor is the primary source of vertical vibratory forces as well as vibratory pitching and rolling moments. The small tip clearance of the rotor causes a local interaction between the blade tip and duct that is the dominant contributor to in-plane vibratory forces on the ducted rotor.

Effects of Duct Cross Section Camber and Thickness on the Performance of Ducted Propulsion Systems for Aeronautical Applications

The axisymmetric flow field around a ducted rotor is thoroughly analysed by means of a nonlinear and semi-analytical model which is able to deal with some crucial aspects of shrouded systems like the interaction between the rotor and the duct, and the slipstream contraction and rotation. Not disregarding the more advanced CFD based methods, the proposed procedure is characterised by a very low computational cost that makes it very appealing as analysis tool in the preliminary steps of a design procedure of hierarchical type. The work focuses on the analysis of the effects of the camber and thickness of the duct cross section onto the performance of the device. It has been found that an augmentation of both camber and thickness of the duct leads to an increase of the propulsive ideal efficiency.