Overview
A CFD characterisation of a regional turboprop configuration with particular focus on the Reynolds number dependence of the power effects, both direct (1P forces and moments) and indirect (slipstream) is performed, in concert with a wind-tunnel test in a pressurised facility to allow variation in Reynolds number. The turboprop is furnished with new control surface concepts.
Variable Fidelity Modelling (VFM) techniques are used for the CFD characterisation, deploying steady RANS with actuator disk modelling as the low-fidelity approach and unsteady RANS with full propeller blade modelling as the high-fidelity approach. The latter uses a novel coupling between the RANS solver and a Vortex Particle Method to increase the accuracy of slipstream effects without resorting to costly mesh refinement in the propeller wake. A methodology for determining reliable performance data at full scale is developed, using a combination of CFD and wind-tunnel data at atmospheric conditions only, again deploying VFM.