A computational fluid dynamic acoustic investigation of a tiltwing eVTOL concept aircraft

Higgins, R. J. , Barakos, G. N. , Shahpar, S. and Tristanto, I. (2021) A computational fluid dynamic acoustic investigation of a tiltwing eVTOL concept aircraft. Aerospace Science and Technology, 111, 106571. (doi: 10.1016/j.ast.2021.106571)

Abstract

With the advancement in electric propulsion systems, aircraft designers and manufacturers are no longer constrained to established configurations. Developments in Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft have been seen in recent times through the design of modern tiltrotor aircraft, tiltwing concepts and multi-rotor designs. The combination of these developments allowed engineers to propose designs which utilise the vertical take-off and landing capabilities of a tiltrotor aircraft with electrically driven propulsion systems, deemed eVTOL (Electrically driven Vertical Take-off and Landing). This investigation aims to develop an understanding of the aeroacoustic emissions associated with the non-linear interaction resulting from multi-rotor integrated propellers and a tiltwing eVTOL airframe. Acoustics is one of the key requirements of any future eVTOL aircraft certification, hence, an investigation was conducted into the baseline design, followed by an optimisation study aiming to reduce the amount of noise generated.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The authors would like to thank Roll-Royce for their support and permis- sion to publish the work. Special mention to Anmol Manohar and Dave Fill- ingham for their technical support. This work used the Cirrus UK National Tier-2 HPC Service at EPCC (https://www.epcc.ed.ac.uk/cirrus) funded by the University of Edinburgh and EPSRC (EP/P020267/1) under project number EC004.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Barakos, Professor George and Higgins, Mr Ross
• Authors: Higgins, R. J., Barakos, G. N., Shahpar, S., and Tristanto, I.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Autonomous Systems and Connectivity
• Journal Name: Aerospace Science and Technology
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 1270-9638
• ISSN (Online): 1626-3219
• Published Online: 17 February 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Masson SAS
• First Published: First published in Aerospace Science and Technology 111: 106571
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy