Aeroacoustic analysis of wing-mounted propeller arrays

This paper deals with a numerical investigation on aerodynamics and aerocoustics of multi-propeller/wing configurations. Particular attention is paid to the effect of the aerodynamic interactions on the acoustic emissions and aerodynamic performance which represents, nowadays, one of the most challenging issues in the design of multi-rotor vehicles. In these configurations, the aerodynamic interactions are dominated by rotor wake/wing impact and mutual interference between adjacent rotor wakes. In order to get a better insight on their effect on performance and aeroacoustic emissions, a parametric analysis is accomplished in terms of propeller hubs relative positions and propeller blades phasing. The numerical analyses are performed by the combined application of a boundary integral formulation suitable for the potential aerodynamics solution around lifting/thrusting bodies in the presence of strong wake-body interaction, and the Farassat 1A formulation for the evaluation of the noise field.