Numerical Simulations of a Heavy-Lift eVTOL

Simulations of a multi-rotor eVTOL aircraft at high disk-loading condition were undertaken in hovering flight using a viscous vortex particle method combined with a lifting-line blade model. Constant-source panels were used to introduce the influence of the airframe in the solution. Comparisons with CFD results revealed that the vortex-particle solver was capable of predicting the time-averaged propeller thrusts to within 6%. Additionally, the primary (1/rev) blade thrust variations due to the inter-propeller interactions were well-captured. However smaller-scale variations and interactions between the propellers and wings were not resolved to the same extent.