Student Name: Duncan Waanders
Advisor: Dr. Juergen Rauleder
Milestone: PhD Thesis Proposal
Degree Program: Aerospace Engineering
Title: Improved Rotor Modeling for Complex Aerodynamic Interactions with the Lattice Boltzmann Method
Abstract: Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) rotorcraft offer unmatched operational flexibility, but optimizing their performance requires accurately modeling rotorcraft aerodynamic interactions. This task is significantly complicated by emerging multirotor configurations and challenging operational environments, such as ship airwakes and urban flow fields. Analyzing these multi-source interactional phenomena is hindered by current computational limitations, as high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is prohibitively expensive and low-fidelity methods simplify critical flow physics. This gap motivates the development of advanced mid-fidelity modeling approaches, as delivering computationally efficient, rapid-turnaround solutions is essential to enable large-scale optimization, comprehensive parameter sweeps, and real-time flight simulator integration. This proposed thesis will present the development of a new rotor model based on the actuator line method (ALM) within a mid-fidelity GPU-accelerated Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) CFD framework. The new LBM-ALM approach was shown to correlate well with published experimental data and high-fidelity CFD for an isolated single-rotor in hover. The approach was then validated for ship-rotor dynamic interface simulations against sub-scale experimental data and compared to an existing LBM-actuator disk method (ADM) framework, confirming an increase in interactional aerodynamic fidelity. Finally, both the LBM-ALM and LBM-ADM frameworks were validated with excellent correlation to an experimental multirotor hovering in ground effect. The combined results established that the developed framework provides a robust, scalable platform for accurate and computationally efficient interactional aerodynamic analysis.
Date and time: 2026-10-29, 10:00
Location: Skiles 270
Committee:
Dr. Juergen Rauleder (advisor), School of Aerospace Engineering
Dr. Marilyn Smith, School of Aerospace Engineering
Dr. Beckett Zhou, School of Aerospace Engineering
Dr. Alex Moushegian, US Navy - NAWCAD
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