CFD predictions of tilt rotor aircraft near buildings

What is it about?

This computational fluid dynamics study looks at rotorcraft rotor wake and building wake interactions.

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Why is it important?

Urban air mobility with rotorcraft will not be feasible unless flight amongst buildings in city centers can be shown to be safely accomplished. Among the concerns about flights at low altitudes above city centers is the concern about interactions between rotor wakes and building shed bluff body wakes in winds. Too high of "urban canyon" turbulence would lead to poor handling qualities of the rotorcraft.