Aerodynamic Simulations of a Helicopter Rotor Using an Iterative Greedy Multiscale Radial Basis Function Mesh Deformation Method

This thesis presents a new radial basis function (RBF) mesh deformation algorithm which combines and expands upon existing successful techniques. The mechanics of the mesh deformation are based on the multiscale RBF method, with base node selection accomplished through a greedy algorithm. Iterative methods were applied to this greedy multiscale method in order to minimise the preprocessing time. This combination of RBF approaches provides high deformed grid quality at a reasonable preprocessing cost, whilst reducing user input compared to the multiscale method, as demonstrated in test cases of helicopter rotor aerodynamics simulations.