Novel High-Precision and Efficient Momentum Source Method

Effective and reliable slipstream numerical simulation methods are important for propeller-driven aircraft design. This paper presents a high-precision and efficient momentum source method (HPE-MSM) based on a novel actuator disk load prediction model established by the frozen rotor method and blade element momentum theory. The simulation results of two benchmark test cases of an isolated propeller and a typical turboprop airliner show that the accuracy of the HPE-MSM proposed in this paper is close to the time-averaged unsteady results of the sliding mesh method (SMM), with a maximum error of 5% in aircraft lift and drag coefficients compared with experimental values. Meanwhile, the calculation efficiency of the HPE-MSM is comparable to quasi-steady methods, with only about 3.4% of the computation resources of the SMM in the whole aircraft simulation. This novel approach achieves high-precision and efficient simulation of the slipstream, which has the potential to improve the design level of propeller-driven aircraft.