Summary of the Vertical Lift Proprotor Noise Test

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) vectored thrust vehicle platforms present the challenges of requiring propulsors to operate in both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) as well as axial forward flight. Such vectored thrust vehicles must also contend with the transition flight corridors of departure and approach. Transitional flight conditions create complex aerodynamic interactions, which lead to performance and acoustic characteristics that are difficult to predict numerically. The Vertical Lift Proprotor Noise Test (VLPNT) was a wind tunnel testing campaign in the NASA Langley Research Center’s 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel aimed at measuring the aerodynamic performance and acoustic behavior of proprotors operating at conditions representative of vectored thrust UAM vehicles with articulating propulsors. Another objective of the VLPNT was to conduct a scaling investigation on a subset of the tested proprotor geometries in an effort to identify low-Reynolds number impacts on performance and acoustics. This report documents the test campaign and the resulting data that is available to the community.