Assessment of Detached Eddy Simulation and Sliding Mesh Interface in Predicting Tiltrotor Performance in Helicopter and Airplane Modes

TL;DR

This study evaluates the effectiveness of Detached Eddy Simulation with a Sliding Mesh Interface in predicting the performance and flow fields of the XV-15 tiltrotor across helicopter and airplane modes, validated against experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a CFD approach combining Detached Eddy Simulation and Sliding Mesh Interface for accurate tiltrotor performance prediction.

Findings

CFD results agree well with experimental data

Effective modeling of rotor movement using Sliding Mesh Interface

Enhanced understanding of flow fields in tiltrotor operation

Abstract

This paper presents numerical investigation on performance and flow field of the full-scale XV-15 tiltrotor in both helicopter mode (hovering flight and forward flight) and aeroplane propeller mode using Detached Eddy Simulation, in which the movement of the rotor is achieved using a Sliding Mesh Interface. Comparison of our CFD results against experiment data and other CFD results is performed and presented.