Validation of Rotor Aeroacoustic Noise in Hovering and Low Speed Descent Flight

Abstract

In this paper, the acoustic pressure of a helicopter rotor in hovering and low speed descent flight is predicted and compared with experimental data. Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equation is used to predict the acoustic pressure. Two different wind tunnel test data are used to validate the predicted results. Boeing 360 model rotor test results are used for the low-frequency noise in hover, and HART II test results are employed for the mid-frequency noise, especially BVI noise, in low speed descent flight. A simple free-wake model as well as the state-of-the-art CFD/CSD coupling method are adopted to perform the analysis. Numerical results show good agreement against the measured data for both low-frequency and mid-frequency harmonic noise signal. The noise carpet results predicted using the FFT(Fast Fourier Transform) shows also reasonable correlation with the measured data.