Aerodynamic Analysis of the Compound Helicopter

Future Type Rotary-wing Aircraft　System Technology

In Japan, rotary-wing aircrafts can be extremely useful for disaster relief, mountain rescue efforts, and for emergency transportation from isolated islands. To present the conceptual design idea of a compound helicopter suited to these needs, we are striving to accumulate basic design technology of future rotary-wing aircrafts and to perform pioneering technical development ahead of domestic manufacturers. Through these efforts, we will play a pioneering role in the development of future rotary-wing aircrafts, eventually transferring the acquired technology to private sector manufacturers.

The compound helicopter model which can fly.

The unsteady flow fields around multiple rotary wings such as for the compound helicopters are solved using a multi-disciplinary CFD/CSD coupling analysis code, rFlow3D, which is developed at JAXA. Based on a moving overlapping grid method, it can generate the aerodynamic data together with the blade elastic motions. The complex geometries of the rotorcraft fuselages are resolved based on unstructured grid solvers, FaSTAR or TAS-code. Besides of the applications to helicopters, rFlow3D has also been used for other rotary wings, such as propellers, drones with multiple rotors, and wind turbines.