Numerical analysis of an elasto-flexible membrane blade using steady-state fluid–structure interaction simulations

A steady-state fluid–structure interaction analysis on an elasto-flexible membrane blade is presented. The membrane blade geometry is designed based on the NASA-Ames Phase VI model. Form-finding is used to compute the pre-stressed membrane's initial equilibrium shape directly on the Computer-Aided Design model using isogeometric analysis. To study the effects and potential advantages of such a membrane blade concept, a co-simulation framework is used to couple fluid and structure solvers. The resulting pressure, thrust, and torque coefficient distributions are presented and compared to the reference configuration. The membrane's deflection increases the blade's camber, which results in a change in the thrust and torque radial distributions. The larger decrease of the axial momentum at the wake of the flexible configuration indicates that it has a larger capacity to extract energy from the flow than its rigid counterpart.