Distributed Turbulence Model with Rigorous Spatial Cross-Correlation for Simulation of Helicopter Flight in Atmospheric Turbulence

Abstract

This paper presents a distributed turbulence model with rigorous spatial cross-correlation for helicopter flight simulation in atmospheric turbulence and for future handling-quality analysis. First, digital filters with longitudinal correlations of the von Kármán turbulence are developed to generate discrete turbulence velocity components. Meanwhile, transverse turbulence correlations are considered by relating the filters in different positions with mathematically rigorous spatial cross-correlation. Then, the distributions of the related filters on the transverse plane in front of helicopter and their velocity components in the longitudinal direction of airspeed, as well as turbulence models of helicopter aerodynamic surfaces, are established. Finally, a flight dynamics model coupled with the turbulence model is developed and validated against the flight-test data. The proposed model can achieve accurate real-time simulations of helicopter response to atmospheric turbulence in the frequency range of interest of handling qualities. The effect of transverse turbulence correlations on helicopter frequency response is also analyzed. The results show that the simulation model regardless of transverse turbulence correlations would aggravate the "rotor-to-body attenuation" effect of the main rotor and therefore underpredict the helicopter roll, pitch, and heave rate responses to atmospheric turbulence in the frequency range of interest.