Separation Characteristics Analysis of the Rocket Launcher Jettisoned from a Helicopter

In the present study, the separation characteristics of rocket launchers jettisoned from a helicopter was analyzed through computational simulation. An unstructured overset mesh method and six-degrees-of-freedom equations of motion were adopted to describe the rotation of the main rotor and the motion of jettisoned rocket launchers. The unsteady flow analysis for the helicopter was performed to validate the numerical methods used in this study, and the analysis results were in good agreement with those of previous studies. The separation characteristics of the rocket launcher was analyzed according to the rocket launcher location, flight speed, the number of mounted rockets and the platform pitch angle. It was confirmed that the separation characteristics of the rocket launcher varied depending on differences in the main rotor wake and freestream effects according to drop conditions.