Numerical Simulation of Rotor Blade
JAXA Supercomputer System Annual Report February 2025-January 2026
Report Number: R25ETET45
Subject Category: Skills Acquisition System
- Responsible Representative: Kanako Yasue, Aviation Technology Directorate, Aviation Integration Innovation Hub
- Contact Information: Hideaki Sugawara(sugawara.hideaki@jaxa.jp)
- Members: Tomoya Karasawa, Hideaki Sugawara, Shunsuke Takeuchi, Yasutada Tanabe
Abstract
The flow field around a rotor is inherently unsteady and asymmetric. The relative velocity along the blade depends on the radial position and, during forward flight, also varies with the azimuth angle.
In recent years, rotorcraft encompass a wide range of configurations, from small drones to electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and helicopters. On rotor blades, the boundary layer on the blade surface transitions from laminar to turbulent flow. This transition affects the drag and pressure distribution characteristics, thus, accurate prediction of the transition location is related to the aerodynamic performance for reliable aerodynamic performance prediction.
This study focuses on boundary layer transition and investigates analytical methods aimed at improving the accuracy of aerodynamic predictions for rotorcraft.
Reference URL
N/A
Reasons and benefits of using JAXA Supercomputer System
To accurately capture the transition phenomena on rotor blades, it is necessary to resolve complex flow fields and vortices, which requires large-scale simulations using supercomputers.
Achievements of the Year
Simulations of the rotor were conducted using the rotorcraft CFD solver rFlow3D. Transition location and aerodynamic performance were investigated considering elastic deformations (Fig.1). The computational results revealed that the current transition model shows good agreement in the high Reynolds number range typical of actual helicopters.
Fig.1: Complex tip vortex flow field around the rotor.
Publications
N/A
Usage of JSS
Computational Information
- Process Parallelization Methods: N/A
- Thread Parallelization Methods: OpenMP
- Number of Processes: 1
- Elapsed Time per Case: 456 Hour(s)
JSS3 Resources Used
Fraction of Usage in Total Resources*1(%): 0.14
Details
Please refer to System Configuration of JSS3 for the system configuration and major specifications of JSS3.
| System Name | CPU Resources Used(Core x Hours) | Fraction of Usage*2(%) |
|---|---|---|
| TOKI-SORA | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| TOKI-ST | 1168824.51 | 1.21 |
| TOKI-GP | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| TOKI-XM | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| TOKI-LM | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| TOKI-TST | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| TOKI-TGP | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| TOKI-TLM | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| File System Name | Storage Assigned(GiB) | Fraction of Usage*2(%) |
|---|---|---|
| /home | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| /data and /data2 | 102400.00 | 0.67 |
| /ssd | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Archiver Name | Storage Used(TiB) | Fraction of Usage*2(%) |
|---|---|---|
| J-SPACE | 0.00 | 0.00 |
*1: Fraction of Usage in Total Resources: Weighted average of three resource types (Computing, File System, and Archiver).
*2: Fraction of Usage：Percentage of usage relative to each resource used in one year.
ISV Software Licenses Used
| ISV Software Licenses Used(Hours) | Fraction of Usage*2(%) | |
|---|---|---|
| ISV Software Licenses(Total) | 17.10 | 0.01 |
*2: Fraction of Usage：Percentage of usage relative to each resource used in one year.
JAXA Supercomputer System Annual Report February 2025-January 2026