Numerical Investigation of Rotorcraft Fuselage Drag Reduction using Active Flow Control

The effectiveness of unsteady zero-net-mass-flux jets for fuselage drag reduction was evaluated numerically on a generic rotorcraft fuselage in forward flight with a rotor. Previous efforts have shown significant fuselage drag reduction using flow control for an isolated fuselage by experiment and numerical simulation. This work will evaluate a flow control strategy, that was originally developed on an isolated fuselage, in a more relevant environment that includes the effects of a rotor. Evaluation of different slot heights and jet velocity ratios were performed. Direct comparisons between an isolated fuselage and rotor/fuselage simulations were made showing similar flow control performance at a -3° fuselage angle of attack condition. However, this was not the case for a -5° angle of attack condition where the performance between the isolated fuselage and rotor/fuselage were different. The fuselage flow control resulted in a 17% drag reduction for a peak Cμ of 0.0069 in a forward flight simulation where μ = 0:35,M∞ = 0:209, and CT/σ = 0:08. The CFD flow control results also predicted a favorable 22% reduction of the fuselage download at this same condition, which can have compounding beneficial effects on the overall performance of the vehicle. This numerical investigation was performed in order to provide guidance for a future 1/3 scale wind tunnel experiment to be performed at the NASA 14-by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel.