A high-fidelity engineering simulation model has been developed in FLIGHTLAB for a Sikorsky production helicopter to support future design modifications. The simulation model consists of major subsystems for main rotor, tail rotor, fuselage, empennage, landing gear, flight control system, and propulsion system. As the manufacturer, Sikorsky was able to provide a complete and validated set of model data and a large database of flight test records to ensure the model quality and fidelity. Although the model correlation with test data is satisfactory in most flight conditions including hover, low-speed flight, level flight, and vertical climb, some model-data discrepancies were seen in the forward climb/descent and autorotation test cases. An additional study was conducted at Sikorsky to investigate these discrepancies. Based on the study, a set of model enhancements were developed to improve the model correlation with test data in forward climb/descent and autorotation. These enhancements allow for adjustment of certain semi-empirical corrections to address model limitations at these challenging conditions such as fuselage characteristics and interference at high angles of attack and rotor inflow and interference at low collective settings and near 90-degree wake skew. These enhancements were carefully designed such that the effects were localized so that the model-data correlation was not adversely impacted in other flight conditions. The model-data correlation in forward climb/descent and autorotation were significantly improved by implementing these model enhancements with little to no impact on the other flight conditions resulting in a high-fidelity engineering simulation model validated in the entire flight envelope.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.