Modeling the electrostatic charging of a helicopter during hovering in dusty atmosphere

Grosshans, Holger;Szász, Robert-Zoltan;Papalexandris, Miltiadis
(2017) Aerospace Science and Technology — Vol. 64, p. 31-38 (2017)

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Abstract
A helicopter flying through an atmosphere containing particulates may accumulate high electrostatic charges which can challenge its operational safety. In this paper we elaborate and validate a triboelectric charging model to predict the electrification experienced by a helicopter while hovering in dusty air. We employed Large Eddy simulations to describe the turbulent structures inherent in the flow around the rotorcraft. The dust particles were tracked individually in a Lagrangian framework. A model accounting for the triboelectric charge transfer when a particle hits the helicopter was introduced. The results demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed approach and allow a detailed analysis of the location of the charge accumulation.
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Grosshans, H., Szász, R.-Z., & Papalexandris, M. (2017). Modeling the electrostatic charging of a helicopter during hovering in dusty atmosphere. Aerospace Science and Technology, 64, 31-38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2017.01.014 (Original work published 2017)