Experimental investigation of the flow field and noise generated by urban air mobility rotors

Abstract

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) presents a promising reality, where large-scale air taxi operations will be achieved using electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOL). Unlike traditional rotorcraft the design strategy for these vehicles is to use multiple rotors with fixed-pitch rotor blades to reduce noise and increase vehicle stability. This design change alters the flow field surrounding the rotors and in turn the dominant noise sources, which need to be considered when determining community impact.

This seminar focuses on multiple experimental studies, which were conducted to understand the radiated noise and forces produced by both sub-scale UAM rotors in forward flight conditions. Noise directivities and scaling laws will be presented to highlight important noise sources for this new class rotors. Results from particle image velocimetry measurements of the rotor inflow and wake flow fields, will also be explored to show how experimental measurements can aid future noise modeling efforts. Specifically results from analytical tonal noise predictions will be presented, which combine low-fidelity force models with the measured rotor inflow to show that computationally efficient, accurate noise predictions, can be achieved with an accurate description of the rotor inflow.

About the speaker

Dr. James Goldschmidt is an Assistant Research Professor working in the Fluid Research Department at the Applied Research Lab at Penn State. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from The College of New Jersey in 2018, M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from The University of Florida in 2020, and Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from The University of Florida in 2023. His research focuses on experimental methods for fluid dynamics and aeroacoustics with focuses on low-order modeling of turbulent flow fields, flow control applications, rotorcraft aeromechanics, jet noise, and fluid structure interactions.