Numerical Prediction of Rotor Tip-Vortex Roll-Up in Axial Flights by Using a Time-Marching Free-Wake Method

The wake geometries of a two-bladed rotor in axial flights using a time-marching free-wake method without a non-physical model of the far wake are calculated. The computed free-wake geometries of AH-1G model rotor in climb flight are compared with the experimental visualization results. The time-marching free-wake method can predict the behavior of the tip vortex and the wake roil-up phenomena with remarkable agreements. Tip vortices shed from the two-bladed rotor can interact with each other significantly. The interaction consists of a turn of the tip vortex from one blade rolling around the tip vortex from the other. Wake expansion of wake geometries in radial direction after the contraction is a result of adjacent tip vortices begging to pair together and spiral about each other. Detailed numerical results show regular pairing phenomenon in the climb flights, the hover at high angle of attack and slow descent flight too. On the contrary, unstable motions of wake are observed numerically in the hover at low angle of attack and fast descent flight. It is because of the inherent wake instability and blade-vortex-interaction rather then the effect of recirculation due to the experimental equipment.