• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.859-867
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• 2007

The objective of this study is to develop and validate a numerical method which can handle the multi-rotor aerodynamic characteristics. For the purpose of power estimation, table look-up method is implemented to the existing unsteady panel code that is coupled with a time-marching free wake model. Also, the Reynolds number scaling is implemented for the application to various regions of Reynolds number. The computed results are validated against the available experimental data for coaxial and tandem rotors. In the validation case for the coaxial rotor, more accurate result is acquired when the thickness effect is considered. The wake instability problem occurs at a particular separation distance between the rotors for tandem rotors. The wake instability is avoided by setting the single-rotor wake geometry as the initial wake geometry for the multi-rotor analysis. The estimated result for rotor separation effect is compared with the result of the momentum theory.