Optimisation of Rotary Wings

Background

Electric flight is one of the main thrusts in aerospace today, and electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOL) are currently under development aiming to begin point-to-point transportation services over our cities. eVTOL vehicles mainly employ rotors for efficiency and their performance, where acoustics and safety are strongly coupled. Making the rotors more efficient is usual at the detriment of acoustics or structural dynamics. Given the lack of experience in eVTOL design, computer-based optimisation that includes Aerodynamics, Acoustics and Aeroelasticity (the AAA of aerospace engineering) are essential. The same holds for the design of other rotary wings such as wind turbine blades and helicopter rotors. The CFD laboratory of Glasgow, have invested approximately 85 person-years in the development and validation of the AAA optimisation tools.

Technology Overview

A method based on an in-house Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool is put forward by the CFD laboratory of Glasgow. It uses the adjoint method of gradient-based optimisation and delivers accurate results for complex optimisation tasks for rotary wings. The method has been used for several research and industrial projects and can be applied to support the development and design of eVTOL blades and vehicle optimisation. It employs parallel computing and is considered the highest-fidelity tool of its kind in the UK. The tool is ready to be used for real-world problems either via licensing to aerospace and wind energy companies or via participation of the CFD laboratory of Glasgow in joint efforts with companies and organisations interested in rotary wing AAA analysis and optimisation.

Benefits

• High fidelity of simulation results,
• Several optimisation methods to suit different design objectives,
• Validated tool with a track record of about 25 years,
• Experience in using the tool at the University of Glasgow,
• Application to several rotary wing types:
  • helicopter rotors,
  • tilt-rotors,
  • eVTOL,
  • propellers,
  • wind turbines

Applications

Application areas include aerospace and energy companies interested in high performance rotary wings with low acoustics and safe structural operating limits.

Opportunity

To exploit years of research and experience in using the AAA method of optimisation for new designs of rotary wings applied over different areas.