Computational Study of the Side-by-Side Urban Air Taxi Concept

High-fidelity computational fluid dynamics simulations of NASA's Side-by-side air taxi concept have been carried out. The three-dimensional unsteady Navier-Stokes equations are solved on overset grids using high-order accurate schemes, dual-time stepping, and a hybrid turbulence model. The flow solver has been loosely coupled with a heli- copter comprehensive analysis code in order to get the trimmed flight solution. The vehicle simulated is a six-passenger side-by-side intermeshing rotor helicopter with hybrid propulsion for air taxi operations, also known as urban air mo- bility applications. This concept vehicle is intended to focus and guide NASA research activities in support of aircraft development for emerging aviation markets, in particular vertical take-off and landing air taxi operations.