Coupled Rotorcraft–Atmosphere Simulation for Firefighting Applications

Flight simulations are critical for aerial firefighting training, but realistic modelling of aircraft-atmosphere interactions within fire scenarios is particularly challenging. To this end, a two-way-coupled flight simulation system, the Daedalus I framework, has been developed at the University of Glasgow for helicopter firefighting research applications. This paper presents the initial results from flight experiments conducted with different coupling schemes between the rotorcraft model and the GPU-accelerated Lattice Boltzmann atmosphere model within the system. The two-way coupling scheme was first validated using an isolated, transient rotor case. To quantify differences in pilot control and strategy between the two-way, fully-coupled rotor-atmosphere method and two (2) one-way, superposition-based coupling methods, a series of flight experiments were conducted using the bimodal modification of the McRuer pilot model representing human pilot controls, in conjunction with objective performance metrics. The results highlighted noticeable changes in helicopter behaviours and pilot responses across the three tested coupling methods, with the two-way coupling method showing the most resistance to the generated fire disturbance.