Multibody analyses for performance and aeromechanics of a rotor in low-speed flight
Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology
ISSN: 0002-2667
Article publication date: 1 January 2014
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to correlate the flexible multibody analysis for the performance, blade airloads, rotor pitch control angles, and blade structural loads of a full-scale utility helicopter rotor in low-speed forward flight with wind tunnel test and flight test data.
Design/methodology/approach
A nonlinear flexible multibody dynamics analysis code, DYMORE, is used to analyze the performance and aeromechanics of a utility helicopter rotor in low-speed forward flight. The main rotor system is modeled using various multibody elements such as rigid bodies, nonlinear elastic beams, mechanical joints, and elastic springs/dampers. The freewake model is used to capture rotor wakes more elaborately in low-speed forward flight.
Findings
Fair to good correlations of rotor performance such as figure of merit in hover, rotor power, propulsive force, and lift in low-speed forward flight are achieved with sweeps of the thrust, rotor shaft tilting angle, and advance ratio, against wind tunnel test data. The blade section normal forces from the mid-span to outboard are fairly or well correlated with flight test data, but the normal force at the inboard blade station is under-predicted. The trimmed pitch control angles are reasonably predicted; however, the lateral cyclic pitch control angle is moderately under-predicted. The flap bending moments are compared fairly with measurements; however, the oscillations of the lead-lag bending and torsion moments are not captured well.
Practical implications
Reasonable predictions of the performance and aeromechanics of the rotor in low-speed forward flight will allow the flexible multibody dynamics to be used for the rotorcraft comprehensive analysis, in place of expensive flight and wind tunnel tests of the rotor.
Originality/value
Up to now, the stand-alone flexible multibody dynamics without the aid of external aerodynamic analysis has not been widely used for the analyses of rotor performance and aeromechanics in low-speed forward flight. However, the present flexible multibody dynamics analysis directly integrated with the freewake model gives fair to good correlation of the rotor performance and aeromechanics predictions in low-speed forward flight.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2012R1A1A006286) and Leading Foreign Research Institute Recruitment Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) (K2060100001).
Citation
Park, J.-S. (2014), "Multibody analyses for performance and aeromechanics of a rotor in low-speed flight", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 86 No. 1, pp. 33-42. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEAT-09-2012-0150
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited