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Parametric Study and Design of Tab Shape for Improving Aerodynamic Performance of Rotor Blade

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Abstract

In the present study, the parametric study was performed to analyze the effect of the tab on the aerodynamic performance and characteristics of rotor blades. Also, the tab shape was designed to improve the aerodynamic performance of rotor blades. A computational fluid dynamics solver based on three-dimensional Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equation using an unstructured mesh was used for the parametric study and the tab design. For airfoils, the effect of length and angle of a tab was studied on the aerodynamic characteristics of airfoils. In addition, including those parameters, the effect of a span of a tab was studied for rotor blades in hovering flight. The results of the parametric study were analyzed in terms of change of the aerodynamic performance and characteristics to understand the effect of a tab. Considering the analysis, the design of tab shape was conducted to improve the aerodynamic performance of rotor blades. The simply attached tab to trailing edge of the rotor blades increases the thrust of the rotor blades without significant changing of aerodynamic characteristics of the rotor blades in hovering and forward flight.

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Abbreviations

\(C_\mathrm{l}, C_\mathrm{d}\) :

Lift and drag coefficient of an airfoil

\(C_{m, 1/4}\) :

Moment coefficient of an airfoil at 1/4-chord

\(C_\mathrm{T}, C_\mathrm{P}, C_\mathrm{Q}\) :

Thrust, power, and torque coefficient

F :

Convective fluxes

F.M.:

Figure of merit

\(F_\mathrm{th}, F_\mathrm{tq}, F_\mathrm{D}\) :

Sectional thrust, torque, and drag forces, N/m

G :

Diffusive fluxes

l / c :

Ratio of tab length to chord length

\(M_{y,r}\) :

Sectional pitching moment, \(\hbox {N}\times \hbox {m}/\hbox {m}\)

\(N_{\mathrm{b}}\) :

Number of blades

Q :

Conservative variables

R :

Radius of the rotor blade, m

r / R :

Non-dimensional position in radial direction

S :

Source term

V :

Arbitrary control volume

w / R :

Ratio of tab span to blade radius

\(\delta \) :

Deflection angle of tab, deg

\(\lambda \) :

Inflow ratio

\({\upsigma }\) :

Solidity

\(\phi \) :

Relative inflow angle, deg

\(\partial V\) :

Boundary of control volume

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Acknowledgements

This work was conducted at High-Speed Compound Unmanned Rotorcraft (HCUR) research laboratory with the support of Agency for Defense Development (ADD). The authors also would like to acknowledge the support from the KEIT Research Grant of 2017 (10053157).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aerospace Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea

    Jaeseong Han & Oh Joon Kwon

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  1. Jaeseong Han
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  2. Oh Joon Kwon
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Correspondence to Oh Joon Kwon.

Additional information

An earlier version of this paper was presented at APISAT 2017, Seoul, Korea, October 2017.

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Han, J., Kwon, O.J. Parametric Study and Design of Tab Shape for Improving Aerodynamic Performance of Rotor Blade. JASS 19, 32–52 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42405-018-0023-5

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