Numerical simulation of rotor-fuselage-cylinder interaction in forward flight

Numerical simulation of rotor-fuselage-cylinder interaction in forward flight has been investigated. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is adopted to acquire the discrete solution of the helicopter flowfield. Finite volume method is used to discretize the differential equations, and the convective terms are discretized with third-order MUSCL scheme. SIMPLE algorithm is implemented to solve the three-dimensional viscous incompressible Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. Uniform actuator disc is applied for the ROBIN model. It could be observed that pressure peak values appear at the cylinders, so it might be concluded that the cylinders carry a considerable backward load. The flow beneath fuselage could not be considered uniform, and once the end effect is not negligible, inherently three-dimensional vortex structures must occur that are very different from those observed in the normally two-dimensional mid-portion of the cylinder.