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This paper aims to develop a new approach for aeroelastic analysis of hingeless rotor blades.

The aeroelastic approach developed here is based on the geometrically exact fully intrinsic beam equations and three-dimensional unsteady aerodynamics.

The developed approach is accurate, fast and very useful in rotorcraft aeroelastic analysis.

This beam formulation has been never combined with three-dimensional aerodynamic model to be used for aeroelastic analysis of blades. In addition, it is possible to handle the composite blades, as well as blades with initial curvatures and twist with this proposed formulation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the cross‐coupled responses of a coupled rotor‐fuselage flight dynamic simulation model, including a finite‐state inflow aerodynamics and a coupled flap‐lag and torsion flexible blade structure.

The methodology is laid out based on model development for an articulated main rotor, using the theories of aeroelastisity, finite element and finite‐state inflow formulation. The finite‐state inflow formulation is based on a 3D unsteady Euler‐based concepts presented in the time domain. The most advantages of the model are the capability of modeling dynamic wake effects, tip losses and skewed wake aerodynamics. This is, in fact, a special type of the inflow model relating inflow states, to circulatory blade loadings through a set of first‐order differential equations. A non‐iterative solution of the differential equations has practically altered the model into a simple and direct formulation appending properly to the rest of the helicopter mathematical model. A non‐linear distribution of the induced velocity over the rotor disc is finally obtained by the use of both Legendre polynomials and higher‐harmonic functions. Ultimately, validations of the theoretical results show that the on‐axis response, direct reaction to the pilot input, has a good accuracy both quantitatively and qualitatively against flight test data, and the off‐axis response, cross‐coupled or indirect reaction to the pilot input are improved by this approach of modeling.

Improvements in dynamic prediction of both trim control settings and dynamic cross‐coupled responses of helicopter to pilot inputs are observed.

Further work is required for investigation of the augmented finite state inflow model, including the wake rotation correction factors to describe helicopter maneuvering flight characteristics.

The results of this work support the future researches on design and development of advanced flight control system, incorporating a high bandwidth with low‐phase delay to control inputs and also high levels of dynamic stability within minimal controls cross coupling.

This paper provides detailed characteristics on the mathematical integration problems associated with the advanced helicopter flight dynamics research.

This paper aims to focus on mathematical model development issues, necessary for a better prediction of dynamic responses of articulated rotor helicopters.

The methodology is laid out based on model development for an articulated main rotor, using the theories of aeroelastisity, finite element and state‐space represented indicial‐based unsteady aerodynamics. The model is represented by a set of nonlinear partial differential equations for the main rotor within a state‐space representation for all other parts of helicopter dynamics. The coupled rotor and fuselage formulation enforces the use of numerical solution techniques for trim and linearization calculations. The mathematical model validation is carried out by comparing model responses against flight test data for a known configuration.

Improvements in dynamic prediction of both on‐axis and cross‐coupled responses of helicopter to pilot inputs are observed.

Further work is required for investigation of the unsteady aerodynamics, a state‐space representation, within various compatible dynamic inflow models to describe the helicopter response characteristics.

The results of this work support ongoing research on the development of highly accurate helicopter flight dynamic mathematical models. These models are used as engineering tools both for designing new aerial products such as modernized agile helicopters and optimization of the old version products at minimum time and expense.

Provides further information on the mathematical model development problems associated with advanced helicopter flight dynamics research.

The purpose of this paper is to present and validate an efficient time‐marching free‐vortex method for rotor wake analysis and study the rotor wake dynamics in transient and maneuvering flight conditions.

The rotor wake is represented by vortex filament elements. The equations governing the convection, strain and viscous diffusion of the vortex elements are derived from incompressible Navier‐Stokes equations based on the viscous splitting algorithm. The initial core size of the blade tip vortices is directly computed by a vortex sheet roll‐up model. Then, a second‐order time‐marching algorithm is developed for solving the governing equations. The algorithm is formulated in explicit form to improve computing efficiency. To avoid the numerical instability, a high order variable artificial dissipative term is directly introduced into the algorithm. Finally, the developed method is applied to examine rotor wake geometries in steady‐state and maneuvering flight conditions. Comparisons between predictions and experimental results are made for rotor wake geometries, induced inflow distributions and rotor transient responses, to help validate the new method.

The algorithm is found to be numerically stable and efficient. The predicted rotor responses have good agreement with experimental data. The transient behavior of the wake dominates the rotor responses following rapid control inputs in hover. The wake curvature effect induced by rotor pitching or rolling rate significantly changes the rotor off‐axis response.

This method should be further validated using experimental measurements of full‐scale helicopter rotors.

The paper presents a new time‐marching free‐vortex wake method, which is suitable for application in helicopter flight simulation.

The details of predicting the aerodynamic forces of maneuvering helicopter rotors are discussed in this paper. A new approach to modeling the unsteady rotor aerodynamic forces is presented based on the insight into nonuniform induced velocity distribution, inflow dynamics and unsteady airfoil behavior. For a specified maneuver, the rotor control inputs and helicopter flight attitudes during the maneuvering are first obtained using inverse solution technique, and then the unsteady rotor forces are numerically simulated by synthetically applying the vortex theory, dynamic inflow theory and unsteady airfoil aerodynamic models. Good results of the sample calculations of lateral jink and pop‐up maneuvers are obtained.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the prediction capability of comprehensive structural dynamics (CSD) analysis codes for the higher harmonic control aeroacoustic rotor test (HART) II data.

A nonlinear flexible multibody dynamics analysis code DYMORE, as well as the comprehensive analytical model of rotorcraft aerodynamics and dynamics (CAMRAD) II, are used to perform the task. The predicted results on rotating free vibration analysis, airloads, blade elastic motions, and structural moments are correlated with the measured data for the baseline, minimum noise, and minimum vibration cases.

The DYMORE analysis results with a free wake model show a good performance in capturing blade vortex interaction peaks in the prediction of section normal forces but apparently with a phase shift problem. The high‐frequency behavior in the airloads signal does not affect much on the aeroelastic response and structural moments of the rotor.

The present approach uses two separate CSD codes to systematically validate the HART II data. The accuracy of each code on structural dynamic aspects of HART II rotor is assessed using a consistent set of inputs. The effects of blade tip deflections on the interaction of blades and their trailed vortices leading to a reduced noise emission are also investigated.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the stability of aeroelastic systems using a novel reduced order aeroelastic model.

The proposed aeroelastic model is a reduced-order model constructed based on the aerodynamic model identification using the generalized aerodynamic force response and the unsteady boundary element method in various excitation frequency values. Due to the low computational cost and acceptable accuracy of the boundary element method, this method is selected to determine the unsteady time response of the aerodynamic model. Regarding the structural model, the elastic mode shapes of the shell are used.

Three case studies are investigated by the proposed model. In the first place, a typical two-dimensional section is introduced as a means of verification by approximating the Theodorsen function. As the second test case, the flutter speed of Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development 445.6 wing with 45° sweep angle is determined and compared with the experimental test results in the literature. Finally, a complete aircraft is considered to demonstrate the capability of the proposed model in handling complex configurations.

The paper introduces an algorithm to construct an aeroelastic model applicable to any unsteady aerodynamic model including experimental models and modal structural models in the implicit and reduced order form. In other words, the main advantage of the proposed method, further to its simplicity and low computational effort, which can be used as a means of real-time aeroelastic simulation, is its ability to provide aerodynamic and structural models in implicit and reduced order forms.

This paper aims to present a methodology of designing a custom propeller for specified needs. The example of propeller design for large unmanned air vehicle (UAV) is considered.

Starting from low fidelity Blade Element (BE) methods, the design is obtained using evolutionary algorithm-driven process. Realistic constraints are used, including minimum thickness required for stiffness, as well as manufacturing ones – including leading and trailing edge limits. Hence, the interactions between propellers in hex-rotor configuration, and their influence on structural integrity of the UAV are investigated. Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) are used to obtain loading on the propeller blades in hover. Optimization of the propeller by designing a problem-specific airfoil using surrogate modeling-driven optimization process is performed.

The methodology described in the current paper proved to deliver an efficient blade. The optimization approach allowed to further improve the blade efficiency, with power consumption at hover reduced by around 7%.

The methodology can be generalized to any blade design problem. Depending on the requirements and constraints the result will be different.

Current work deals with the relatively new class of design problems, where very specific requirements are put on the propellers. Depending on these requirements, the optimum blade geometry may vary significantly.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to present a mathematical model of one very flexible transport category airplane whose structural dynamics was modeled with the strain-based formulation. This model can be used for the analysis of couplings between the flight dynamics and structural dynamics.

The model was developed with the use of Hamiltonian mechanics and strain-based formulation. Nonlinear flight dynamics, nonlinear structural dynamics and inertial couplings are considered.

The mathematical model allows the analysis of effects of high structural deformations on airplane flight dynamics.

The mathematical model has more than 60 degrees of freedom. The computational burden is too high, if compared to the traditional rigid body flight dynamics simulations.

The mathematical model presented in this work allows a detailed analysis of the couplings between flight dynamics and structural dynamics in very flexible airplanes. The better comprehension of these couplings will contribute to the development of flexible airplanes.

This work presents the application of nonlinear flight dynamics-nonlinear structural dynamics-strain-based formulation (NFNS_s) methodology to model the flight dynamics of one very flexible transport category airplane. This paper addresses also the way as the analysis of results obtained in nonlinear simulations can be made. Comparisons of the NFNS_s and nonlinear flight dynamics-linear structural dynamics methodologies are presented in this work.