Advanced Rotorcraft Brownout Aerodynamic Analysis and Flight Simulation
A critical operational problem for Army rotorcraft is "brownout" caused by excessive dust and debris kicked up by helicopter rotorwash during take-off and landing.
This can eliminate visibility and severely damage engine parts and rotor blades. CDI recently completed a two-year effort for the U.S. Army developing a physics-based
brownout module that plugs into flight simulations to identify, characterize and visualize brownout clouds for general aircraft, wind, and flight maneuvers. The
brownout module provides a high level of physical fidelity in real-time by leveraging key technologies previously developed at CDI including:
CDI's state-of-the-art, CHARM rotary-wing wake model and fast panel fuselage/ground surface model;
The new brownout module was recently installed in the U.S. Army Advanced Prototyping Engineering and Experimentation (APEX) laboratory rotorcraft flight simulation for
the UH-60M, CH-47F and ARH Aircraft and image generator system at the System Simulation and Development Directorate on Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL.
Brownout Solution - EH-101 in Level Flight Near the Ground
Supports both high resolution analysis and real time flight simulation
Fully-coupled rotor wake/fuselage solution
Stand alone analysis or module that couples into flight simulations
APPLICATIONS
The BROWNOUT analysis tool will provide a better understanding of how aircraft configuration, weight, flight speed and trajectory combine with environmental condition
(e.g. wind speed and direction) to affect visibility and foreign object damage in sand/dust/snow laden environments. The greatest benefit of this tool will be to reduce
the extreme danger of sudden zero-visibility operation of military and search and rescue (SAR) rotorcraft in the field. Other applications include:
Improved flight simulator modeling and training in brownout conditions
Improved mission planning accounting for brownout/whiteout conditions for single and multiple aircraft operations - (e.g. SAR missions in ice and snow
as well as military operations)
Improved aircraft configuration design through evaluation of brownout and rotorwash impact, (e.g. evaluation of future Heavy Lift Rotorcraft concepts)
Improved information on dust cloud characteristics to support the development of onboard
sensing devices to assist pilot situational awareness during brownout
Improved analysis of debris ingestion into engine parts, debris impact damage to rotor blades,
and flight through clouds of chemical/biological agents.
For more information, contact Dan Wachspress at (609)-538-0444 x114
