Navier-Stokes Calculations of Hovering Rotor Flowfields,

Abstract
Unsteady, thin layer Navier-Stokes equations written in rotor coordinates are solved using a partially flux-split, implicit numerical algorithm to calculate the flow fields of a hovering rotor blade at subsonic and transonic conditions. Numerical results are in good agreement with experimental data for both nonlifting and lifting rectangular blades. For the lifting case, the rotor wake effects are modeled by applying a correction to the geometric angle of attack of the blades. Alternate methods of calculating the hovering rotor flowfields in blade-fixed mode that have the same circulation distribution as hovering blade are explored. All of the results presented in this paper are computed on a CRAY 2 supercomputer.