Investigation of the flow fields of coaxial stacked and counter-rotating rotors using PIV measurements and URANS simulations

The flow fields of a 2m-diameter two-bladed single rotor, a 2×2-bladed coaxial co-rotating (stacked) rotor, and a 2×2-bladed coaxial counter-rotating (CCR) rotor were measured using Particle Image Velocimetry, and computed using a finite-volume URANS CFD model. Phase-resolved measurements were performed on the stacked rotor at nine azimuthal locations, and time-resolved measurements were performed on the CCR rotor at 64/rev with at least 500 flow realizations per azimuth in each case. The goal of this study was to compare the flow features of these rotor configurations, and explore the interactions between the rotors. Overall, there was good correlation between the measurements and simulations. In particular, the effect of index angle on the upper and lower rotor thrust sharing for the stacked rotor was captured well by the simulation. The slipstream boundary and vortex trajectories for the CCR rotor were found to vary with azimuthal location, indicating the effect of blade passage on the wake geometry. The slipstream boundary for the stacked rotor was found to vary with the index angle. Simulations indicated a stronger dependence of the tip vortex trajectory on the index angle and thrust for the stacked rotor compared to the CCR rotor. The radial thrust distribution along the upper blades was dependent on the index angle for the stacked rotor, and showed small variation due to blade passage on the CCR rotor. A larger azimuthal dependence was seen for the radial thrust distribution on the lower rotor blades, primarily due to the proximity of upper rotor tip vortices. The lower rotor radial thrust distribution was biased towards the blade tip, outside the upper rotor slipstream.