Effect of Gust on Coaxial Rotors using Free Vortex Methods

The current work focuses on understanding the aerodynamics of a single and coaxial rotor in hover subjected to 1-minus-cosine gust profiles. The work was performed using an in-house free-vortex method that includes the contribution of unsteady aerodynamic terms using the Duhamel integral. Studies were conducted on the Harrington single and coaxial rotor systems trimmed to CT /σ = 0.1, with the gust duration varying from 1-50 revolutions of the rotor, i.e., 0.3 - 15 seconds. Gust amplitudes were also varied from 0.1ωR-0.3ωR. Results were analyzed in terms of the deviation of thrust from the hover values, the frequency content of this signal, angle of attack variations across the span, and the structure of the wake as the system goes through the gust event. It was noted that for single and coaxial rotors, edgewise gusts result in higher frequency components being present in the thrust compared to the axial gust. Large changes in the angle of attack were observed, which could potentially lead to vibratory loads on the system as it experiences the gust. Additionally, an in-house experimental setup consisting of a 3 x 3 fan array and a single rotor (12-inch APC propeller) mounted on a load cell was used to obtain preliminary results of a single rotor operating under gust. The same was compared against the developed numerical method.