Full-Scale Investigation of Rotor/Obstacle Interactions using an Elevated Fixed Platform

A unique shore-based facility and flight tests designed to investigate rotor/obstacle aerodynamic interactions under low wind speed conditions were planned and carried out in 2020 at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River. A temporary elevated fixed platform (EFP) sized to represent the aft half of an LPD-17 flight deck was built out of stacked CONEX shipping containers on a closed taxiway. The EFP walls were instrumented with ultrasonic anemometers to gather velocity flow field measurements as various rotorcraft executed simulated recovery profiles to and hover ladders near the EFP. The EFP was subsequently reconfigured to conduct a confined landing area investigation. The simultaneous acquisition of aircraft performance data and flow field data will be invaluable for the validation of the Navy's shipboard operations modeling and simulation tools, maximizing the Navy's return on investment in building the temporary EFP facility.