Blade-Vortex Interactions: Experimental Data

ESM Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, Director, Professor Demetri Telionis

Matt Pesce, Masters Thesis, 1990, Virginia Tech

Reference:
Wilder, M.C, Pesce, M.M., Telionis, D.P., Poling, D.R., and L. Dadone, "Blade-Vortex Interaction Experiments--Velocity and Vorticity Fields,", AIAA No. 90-0030.

Problem Statement
In a hovering or descending helicopter, the tip vortex of one blade may interact with another blade. This interaction can be seen in the images porvided below. For comparison we have shown the same data with four different visual formats: contours, grayscale, color, and Gouraud shaded surface. This interaction results in large dynamic structural loads as well as severe radiated noise. It is necessary to understand the mechanisms involved in order to improve present designs.

Images: 


Contours      Grayscale       Color          Gouraud Shaded Surface
Visual Insight
The animated data display a sequence of interactions of a blade with oncoming vorticity (see animations below). From these animations we can see that incident vorticity induces a secondary vortex. These data will also serve as a benchmark for comparison of numerical codes.

Animations: 

Color           Gouraud Shaded Surface

Other Student Projects
Since 1990 there have been two Masters students and one Ph.D student that have used visual data analysis tools as part of the research in the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, Director, Professor Demetri Telionis. Massive data sets are generated by computer controlled experiments that measure the velocity in a water tunnel with a Laser Dopler Velocimeter (LDV). Two of these students completed projects in the ESM5984 and organized their projects into a brief web page summary; a more complete multimedia project is available on the anonymous ftp server. For more information contact Professor Demetri Telionis by email at telionis@vt.edu
Visualization Home Page Return to Visualization Home Page

For technical questions contact Professor Demetri Telionis at telionis@vt.edu
Send comments about this page to Dr. Ron Kriz at: kriz@vt.edu
Ronald D. Kriz
College of Engineering
Virginia Tech
http://www.sv.vt.edu/class/esm5984/GenInfo/Insights/telionis/telionis.html

Revised November 26, 1995