STAR-CCM+: Rotorcraft Design & Analysis Capabilities

CD-adapco : Vijaykumar Kannan & Ritu Marpu

Presentation Outline

STAR-CCM+ is a robust tool well suited for many types of

Rotorcraft simulation.
Todays talk will focus on STAR-CCM+ Simulation advantages
and example of Rotorcraft applications.
Rotorcraft Hub Drag.
External Aerodynamics.
Robin body Simulation Overset approach.
Virtual Blade Model (VBM).
Engine Thermal Management.
STAR-CCM+

Integrated multi-physics simulation environment which enables

us to model complex flow physics
Unsteady, turbulent, vortical, compressible flow
Complex blade motion
Complex wake structure
Blade-vortex interactions
Main rotor/ tail rotor interactions
Bluff-body flow around the fuselage
Transition to turbulence
Coexist with
Aeroacoustics
Aeroelasticity
STAR-CCM+
Powerful meshing tools allow for the rapid generation of high
quality grids, even with dirty geometry
Direct CAD import
Surface wrapper
Polyhedral mesh
Automatic prism layer generation
Part based meshing
User Defined meshing pipeline
Extended and flexible mesh capabilities
Full automation
Reduce turn around time
Rotorcraft Hub Drag

Hub drag contributes up to 30%

of total vehicle drag.
Prediction of total hub drag and
contribution of each component
is desired.
Simplified classical approach
does not provide consistently
accurate results.
Meshing complex geometry has
been too expensive (weeks to
months) so CFD has not been
used.

STAR-CCM+ CAD-to-mesh in
2 days, keeping full complexity
Surface Wrapper

The Rotor hub geometry is very complex. CAD is usually of

poor quality and contains:
Pierced faces
Free edges
Missing faces
Manual clean-up is time consuming.
The surface wrapper automatically extracts a clean-and-closed
fluid volume from poor quality CAD.
Surface Wrapper
The hub and fuselage parts has many pierced faces and free
edges beyond manual repair.
Surface Wrapper
Surface wrapper automatically extracts a clean-and-closed surface.
Polyhedral mesh
A high quality volume mesh is generated from the wrapped surface.
Polyhedral mesh
High quality Polyhedral mesh with automatic prism layer cells.
Rotorcraft Hub Drag

DES Solution, Rotating Hub.

Component buildup.
Worst-Case error < 7%.
Significant improvement.
Valuable frequency data.
 Simulation Workflow & Time-line
2 hours
< 30 min

12 CPU hours MRF

60 CPU hours DES
Simulation Work Flow

< 1 min

Polyhedral with Prism mesh

4 hours

< 1 min

Surface sizing
4 hours
Contact
6 hours Leak detection

10 min Cylinder for rotor

Volume shape ref
8 hours

Base case 2 days

5 min 5 Assembly of parts Component build-up 2 hours
20 - 30 surface in each part Run time 60 hours on 24 nodes
< 1 min

* Bars not up to scale Man hour Machine hour

External Aerodynamics

Fuselage contributes to the major drag.

Flight tests are expensive and time
consuming.
The wind tunnel methodology found
difficult for low speed interaction test.
CFD methods reduce the number of
wind tunnel tests and configurations
being explored numerically.

STAR-CCM+ Seamless workflow

allows to carry out complex simulation
with drastically reduced turnaround time
External Aerodynamics

Example : ATAAC test

Blind test on Eurocopter Fuselage
Comparison with experiment and Tau data.
The simulation was performed using trim cells.
SST-DDES turbulence model.
Blind test case to show the potential benefits.
of STAR-CCM+.

Previously discussed
Complex geometry handling
Mesh generation
Automated prism layer generation
Flow features

Main features of the flow:

Highly separated flow behind the back door
Von Karman vortex street behind the strut
Separation on the vertical stabilizers
Horizontal stabilizers in the turbulent wake
External Aerodynamics

Summary : ATAAC test case

Good prediction of drag force and
pressure distribution on the back door.
Over prediction of the side force due to
poor mesh resolution of the end plates
(delta wing).
Both codes under predicted the pitching
moment because of an insufficient
domain size.
Rolling moment prediction is good
agreement with experiment.
Overall accuracy of STAR-CCM+ is
acceptable.
STAR-CCM+ pressure based solver is
30 times faster than TAU solver.
Rotor/Fuselage interaction

Rotor/Fuselage interaction is dominated by unsteady

flow from rotor.
Experimental analysis of aerodynamics difficult and
expensive
CFD analysis is cost effective and fast.
Advances in HPC and code development enable
modelling of complex physics and body motions in
transient simulations.
How well can CFD capture rotor/fuselage
interaction?
High fidelity - Fully overset approach
High accuracy and high computational cost
Low fidelity Virtual Blade Model approach
Low accuracy and low computational cost
ROBIN Body
Rotor/Fuselage Interaction Validation

NASA experiments Rotor Body Interaction (ROBIN)

Comparison with experimental results
Unsteady Pressure Readings along Fuselage
Wake Vortex Propagation
Estimation of trim controls
ROBIN Model
Fuselage model in forward flight
Airspeed 27.2 m / s
Advance ratio 0.151
Fuselage length 2m
Rotor Details
Shaft angle -3 deg (forward)
Coning angle 1.5 deg Advance ratio = 0.151 ,
NACA0012 profile, CT = 0.0064
8 linear twist
Rotor RPM = 2000
Rotor Radius = 0.86m, 24% root cut out, 4 blade
rotor
Thrust Coefficient CT = 0.0064

Steady and Periodic Pressure Measurements on a Generic Helicopter

Fuselage Model in the Presence of a Rotor, Raymond E. Mineck, 2000.
Motion modelling and Mesh

The rotation of the main rotor and blade cyclic pitching is

modelled (Kubrak, Snyder 2013)
Overset Grid
Sliding interface and morphing

Refinements
Overset: 4 blades
around
within
leading
4 overset
and
meshesedges
trailing
Meshes
10 Prismcan
layers
overlap
on blades and
fuselage for high boundary layer
resolution
Sliding IF: Main Rotor mesh rotates
Volumetric
Each bladerefinements in rotor
in mesh within mainarea
rotor
and around blades
CFD Setup

Physics
Air Ideal Gas
Turbulence Model SST k-omega, all y+
Time step: 1 deg azimuth per time step
Boundary Conditions
Velocity Inlet: 27.2 m/s
Pressure Outlet: 0 bar relative
Ceiling and Floor: Wall
Sides: Symmetry
Rotor Speed: 2000 RPM
Overset Mesh vs. Experiment
Averaged Thrust coefficient
CT = 0.00614

Experiment
CT = 0.0064

Solution was found to be periodic in

~3-4 revolutions

Volume mesh ~33 million

Computational time ~ 2 days on 96

cores
Virtual Disk Model using Blade Element Method

VBM model is based on the blade element theory to compute

the force acting on the rotor blade.

Solves Steady Time Averaged Flow

Source terms added according to
rotor characteristics
Reynolds number or Mach number dependence
for airfoil section data
Complete pitching motion definition (collective
and cyclic angles)
Thrust and moment trimming available
Very fast method to achieve steady VBM Inputs
flow results (9.02.006) .
Rotor disk characteristics
In the current analysis target
values of thrust and moments Airfoil section data
were given. Operation conditions
Trim controller for calculating
cyclic controls were enabled
Comparison of averaged unsteady Pressure
on the fuselage
Unsteady Pressure Measurement
CP measurement along top centre line
of fuselage
Modified Pressure Coefficient
Cpmod = 2Cp/2
Thrust Corrected Pressure Coefficient
Cpc = Cpmod * CT / CTN
CTN = 0.0064
Computed thrust coefficient
CT = 0.0068 ( VBM - untrimmed )
CT = 0.0064 ( VBM - trimmed )
Over-prediction in thrust by ~ 6%
Computational time ~ 4 hr on 96 cores
comparison Experimental VBM trim
of trim (deg) (deg)

Collective 10.29 11.249

Longitudinal 2.34 1.925
Velocity plot at advance ratio of 0.15
Lateral -2.69 -2.07
Summary

Overset approach produces fully transient solution , captures

complex flow features and wake propagation.
Unsteady pressure readings (overset) are in good agreement
with experiments conducted by NASA.
STAR-CCM+ VBM model produces fast results for averaged
performance parameters suitable for parametric analysis.
Engine Thermal management

The performance, operability, and reliability demands placed on modern

aircraft / Rotorcraft engines requires stringent management and control
of the engine component operating temperatures.

STAR-CCM+ high fidelity fluid - solid meshing and fully coupled or co-
simulation CHT solver enables accurate thermal modelling.
Engine Thermal management

Key Capabilities

Geometry handling
Direct CAD import
3D CAD editing
Imprinting

Meshing
Wrapper
Polyhedral cells
Conformal interfaces
Automatic prism layer
Embedded thin mesh

Physics Modeling
Coupled flow solver
Turbulence modeling
Heat transfer modeling
Co-simulation
CHT Approach in STAR-CCM+

Volume extraction
CAD Import
Surface preparation
Main
assembly

Sub All parts in Surface Surface Closed surface

assembly Engine bay wrapper repair fluid side
Solid Parts

surfaces
Surface preparation

CAD Prep Closed surface

CHT Surface Surface solid side
Solid only wrapper repair
Cleaning

Boolean
Holes/gaps
closing,
Patch Multi-region meshing

Prism Volume Surface Interface Multi-region

Layer mesher Remesh fluid - solid Fluid / solid
Imprinting

Solver
Flow Thermal

Post process
CHT Approach in STAR-CCM+

Volume extraction
CAD Import
Surface preparation
Main
assembly

Sub All parts in Surface Surface Closed surface

assembly Engine bay wrapper repair fluid side
Solid Parts

surfaces
Surface preparation

CAD Prep Closed surface

CHT Surface Surface solid side
Solid only wrapper repair
Cleaning

Boolean
Holes/gaps
closing,
Patch Multi-region meshing

Prism Volume Surface Interface Multi-region

Layer mesher Remesh fluid - solid Fluid / solid
Imprinting

Solver
Flow Thermal
CHT approach is easily adaptable
by using PBM

Post process
Engine CHT Mesh Complex Geometry
Good quality remesh
Polyhedral Cell
Conformal CHT mesh
Automatic prism mesh
Results Temperature Contours

Volume Temperature Solid Temperature

Fuselage Temperature
Engine Thermal management

Summary
Reduce CAD-to-solution time for design iterations
Almost no time spent in CAD package
Surface wrapper to facilitate mesh creation
High quality fluid-solid mesh , even with complex geometry
Ease of use part based meshing
Perform CHT analysis
Fully coupled simulation
Thermal results correlate well to thermal testing data
Overview

STAR-CCM+ brings integrated engineering solution for solving multi-

disciplinary problems for the wide range of rotorcraft application with
significant reduced time and high quality solution.

Key capabilities include:

Meshing
Part based meshing Physics
Surface wrapper Coupled fluid/solid solution
High quality polyhedral cells Virtual blade model
Conformal fluid/solid interfaces Overset grid
Prism layer meshing