![Picture](../assets/images/evtol00.png)
Funded by BYU's High-Impact Doctoral Research Fellowship, my PhD research aimed at characterizing the complex aerodynamic and aeroacoustic interactions encountered in distributed propulsion of electric VTOL aircraft, or "flying cars".
![Picture](../assets/videos/vorticitytake01-smallreducedslower04.gif)
The main outcome was a variable-fidelity simulation framework for aerodynamic and aeroacoustic analysis of rotor-rotor and rotor-wing interactions in aircraft design. This framework was coded from scratch, developing novel models to accurately predict the complex interactions of multirotor aircraft.
![Picture](../assets/images/windtunnel00.jpg)
As part of my PhD, I supervised and guided the experimental work of fellow grad students on multirotor interactions. This included load-balance wind tunnel measurements of the rotor performance, PIV of the wakes mixing between rotors, and acoustic measurements in an anechoic chamber.
![Picture](../assets/images/anechoic01.jpg)
Through this experimental work, we attained a fundamental understanding of the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic interactions, while gathering data for validation of our computational tools.
![Picture](../assets/videos/acousticstake01-smallreducedslower03.gif)
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
• E. J. Alvarez (2022). "Reformulated Vortex Particle Method and Meshless Large Eddy Simulation of Multirotor Aircraft". Doctoral Dissertation, Brigham Young University. [PDF]
• E. J. Alvarez & A. Ning (2022). "FLOWUnsteady: An Interactional Aerodynamics Solver for Multirotor Aircraft and Wind Energy." AIAA AVIATION Forum. [VIDEO][PDF]
• E. J. Alvarez, A. Schenk, T. Critchfield, and A. Ning (2020). "Rotor-on-Rotor Aeroacoustic Interactions of Multirotor in Hover." Vertical Flight Society 76th Forum. [SLIDES][PDF]