{ "cells": [ { "cell_type": "markdown", "id": "e9f9b7c8", "metadata": { "hide_input": false, "slideshow": { "slide_type": "slide" } }, "source": [ " \n", "# Momentum Theory" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "id": "6c33d237", "metadata": { "slideshow": { "slide_type": "-" } }, "source": [ "```{epigraph}\n", "\"Fortunately, engineers and technologists do not wait until everything is completely understood before building and trying new devices...\"\n", " \n", "```\n", "
" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "id": "d009ed8f", "metadata": { "slideshow": { "slide_type": "skip" } }, "source": [ "In case you were wondering that helicopters have been around for almost a century, surely engineers know everything there is to know about them. What contribution could you make to the state-of-the art in this field. The above quote is particularly relevant." ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "id": "5a36fbfd", "metadata": { "slideshow": { "slide_type": "slide" } }, "source": [ "## Objective" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "id": "e7399701", "metadata": { "slideshow": { "slide_type": "skip" } }, "source": [ "First order of business is to develop a framework to quantify a relation between the power necessary to develop a unit amount of thrust. One can imagine that this would be a highly relevant excercise in the early days of the invention of a rotorcraft - *is rotor-based VTOL flight even allowed within the laws of physics?!* The simplest framework that can be used to model the action of a rotor, which is also the framework that was used/developed by early practitioners in this field, and quantify the power consumption is called momentum theory. The idea is to model the dominant flow physics, which in the case of a rotor is a *push* to the flow opposite to the direction of the generated thrust, and evaluate its effect. As the course progresses, more and more from the rich feature-set exhibited by rotorcraft aerodynamics will be introduced along with ways to account for/model them. " ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "id": "d7bd8568", "metadata": { "slideshow": { "slide_type": "-" } }, "source": [ "The objective is to detail rotor analysis model called **momentum theory** and derive a relation between the following quantities\n", "- rotor radius R\n", "- thrust T generated\n", "- power P required \n", "- induced velocity $v$" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "id": "dcff4a39", "metadata": { "slideshow": { "slide_type": "slide" } }, "source": [ "## Why is a new model even necessary?" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "id": "b7d2ba11", "metadata": { "slideshow": { "slide_type": "-" } }, "source": [ "Alternately, why can we not just solve the Navier-Stokes equations (NSE)?" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "id": "669709aa", "metadata": { "slideshow": { "slide_type": "skip" } }, "source": [ "An aerodynamicist in the early 20th century was very much familiar with the fundamental conservation laws governing fluid dynamics - the Navier-Stokes equations (NSE), a set of nonlinear partial differential field equations in space and time that should, in principle, give you the flow behavior for rotors (in hover, or forward flight state) much as they would for wings in forward flight. However, analytical solutions to the NSE are available only for a handful of very simple flows (or rather simple boundary conditions). Instead of waiting around for a powerful enough computational device to be invented to solve the most complicated form of the problem, aerodynamicists at the time solved the problem by introducing assumptions/idealisations to the rotor flow problem. The result is the momentum theory whose equations are much easier to solve. " ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "id": "832fc75d", "metadata": { "slideshow": { "slide_type": "fragment" } }, "source": [ "Momentum theory-based equation are\n", "- simple and intuitive\n", "- solved using a hand calculator\n", "- match true results *pretty* closely" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "id": "20667f81", "metadata": { "slideshow": { "slide_type": "skip" } }, "source": [ "Turns out the dominant flow characterisitcs of a rotor are indeed dictated by these simpler equations. If one is seeking the relationship between T and P for a rotor of given R, momentum theory is a very simple alternative. Momentum theory provides us a simple framework of the flow phenomenology of lifting rotors. The flow problem is idealized so that it still models the dominant flow physics but simplified enough so that the number of problem variables are minimized. Notwithstanding how computationally intensive it is solve the full NSE for a rotor flowfield, staring at the end result or the equations that led to it is not going to be very helpful in understanding relationships between, for e.g., thrust and power." ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "id": "287f7bfa", "metadata": { "slideshow": { "slide_type": "skip" } }, "source": [ "```{note}\n", "Lower level models such as momentum theory are great for all the reasons mentioned above. But with great model simplicity comes great responsibility (on part of the user) to always keep in mind the limitations/assumptions used, and whether they even apply for the problem at hand. One major pitfall of having a simple model is you will *always* get an answer. Whether it is appropriate or outright wrong depends on the application context. More on the application context below.\n", "```" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "id": "bfb0e0b5", "metadata": { "slideshow": { "slide_type": "slide" } }, "source": [ "## Fundamentals of momentum theory" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "id": "5dbcc40a", "metadata": { "slideshow": { "slide_type": "skip" } }, "source": [ "How would you go about quantifying the amount of work done in order to accelerate said mass of air and keeping the helicopter aloft? Thats where the momentum theory comes in. Sure, there are issues of whether the aircraft can be controlled, structural stresses are not exceeded etc. but if there isn't sufficient power to even operate, everything else is pointless. To evaluate required power, we adopt this model which was in fact used first for analysing ship propellers (ships were around way before aircraft were!). \n", "\n", "For this, the rotor is modelled following the Rankine & Froude actuator disk model. As per this physical model, the propeller or rotor plane is assumed as a disk of zero thickness that supports a pressure difference/discontinuity but not in velocity. More on this below." ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "id": "1ad8df13", "metadata": { "slideshow": { "slide_type": "-" } }, "source": [ "Heirarchy of physical theories [taken from \"Understanding Aerodynamics\" by Doug McLean]\n", "
\n", "Hovering rotor flowfield model in momentum theory
\n", "Hovering rotor flowfield model in momentum theory \n", "
\n", "Hover slipstream pressure distribution\n", "
\n", "DL vs MTOW [taken from Helicopter Aerodynamic II by RW Prouty]\n", "
\n", "DL vs Speed [taken from Helicopter Aerodynamic II by RW Prouty]\n", "
\n", "T/P vs DL [taken from Helicopter Aerodynamic II by RW Prouty]\n", "
\n", "\n", "Mi-6 [source]\n", "
\n", "Induced flow velocity in the far wake (taken from Helicopter Aerodynamics Vol I by Ray Prouty)\n", "
\n", "Climbing rotor flowfield model in momentum theory
\n", "Turbines of different kinds [source]
\n", "\n", "