Numerical study of the flow around the ducted rotor propulsion with controlled leading part of the ring fairing

Аuthors

Batrakov A. S.^*, Garipova L. I.^**

Kazan National Research Technical University named after A.N. Tupolev, Kazan, Russia

*e-mail: batrakov_a.c@mail.ru
**e-mail: lyaysan_garipova@mail.ru

Abstract

In this paper, numerical simulation of the flow around a ducted rotor propulsor is performed. The cylindrical duct allows to significantly increase the efficiency of the rotor in the hover mode. With increasing axial flight speed, the efficiency of the cylindrical duct decreases. At high axial flight speed, the cylindrical duct creates additional drag. The VK1-K184V ducted rotor propulsor, for which experimental data are available, is considered as the base object of simulation. Numerical simulation is carried out in the ANSYS FLUENT software package based on the solution of the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations in a steady-state statement. The steady-state statement is applicable to the problem under consideration due to the presence of a periodic flow pattern. The Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model is used to close the system of equations. The results of numerical simulation showed good agreement with the experimental data. In this paper, a modification of the ducted rotor propulsor in the form of mechanization of the duct is considered. By mechanization we mean ensuring the possibility of controlling the position of the front part of the cylindrical duct, by analogy with the slat on the wing of an aircraft. The following control options were studied: slat extension to increase the chord of the cylindrical duct with the formation of an aerodynamic gap; slat extension to increase the chord of cylindrical duct with the overlap of the aerodynamic gap using a sliding surface; slat deflection leading to a change in the opening coefficient of the cylindrical duct (the ratio of the duct diameter along the leading edge of the crossection to the inner diameter of the duct). It is shown that a promising direction is the use of mechanization that allows regulating the opening coefficient of the duct. In the hover mode, a high opening coefficient of the duct provides additional thrust due to an increase in the area of vacuum in the front part of the fairing, and at a high axial flight speed, a decrease in the opening coefficient of the duct allows to reduce the area of flow stagnation, thereby reducing aerodynamic drag. The obtained data indicate that by using rational control of the cylindrical duct mechanization it is possible to increase the thrust of the propeller by 3% and reduce the required torque by 5%.

Keywords:

computational aerodynamics, ducted rotor propulsor, aerodynamic characteristics

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