Lichten Runner-up Paper: Correlation and Accuracy Quantification of Proprotor Loads between Predictions of Comprehensive Aeroelastic Software and Experimental Data

Presented at the Vertical Flight Society 79th Annual Forum & Technology Display
Dynamics Technical Session - Paper 91
13 pages

https://doi.org/10.4050/F-0079-2023-18033

Abstract:
Nowadays, numerical modelling and simulation are essential in the development and certification of new aircrafts in order to increase safety and lower costs. Modelling and simulation activities can be divided in three main phases: model building, model correlation and model usage. In this paper, the focus is on model correlation; in particular, for what concerns the estimation of rotor loads using the LHD in-house comprehensive code, i.e. GyroX. The work presents a summary of an extensive correlation activity performed on the AW609 proprotor and it highlights the modelling key ingredients to consider for accurate load prediction across the conversion corridor. Precisely, the choice of the rotor aerodynamic model, the effects of hub center accelerations and the wing interference are addressed in the correlation process. Furthermore, a metric, i.e. CEPS, is proposed and used to quantify the correlation error between analytical predictions and experimental data coming from flight tests in order to have a better and immediate comparison between the different model set-ups.

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