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Remanufacturing of worn blades with various defects normally requires processes such as scanning, regenerating a geometrical reference model, additive manufacturing (AM) through laser cladding, adaptive machining and polishing and quality inspection. Unlike the manufacturing process of a new part, the most difficult problem for remanufacturing such a complex surface part is that the reference model adaptive to the worn part is no longer available or useful. The worn parts may suffer from geometrical deformation, distortion and other defects because of the effects of harsh operating conditions, thereby making their original computer aided design (CAD) models inadequate for the repair process. This paper aims to regenerate the geometric models for the worn parts, which is a key issue for implementing AM to build up the parts and adaptive machining to reform the parts. Unlike straight blades with similar cross sections, the tip geometry of the worn tip of a twist blade needs to be regenerated by a different method.

This paper proposes a surface extension algorithm for the reconstruction of a twist blade tip through the extremum parameterization of a B-spline basis function. Based on the cross sections of the scanned worn blade model, the given control points and knot vectors are firstly reconstructed into a B-spline curve D. After the extremum of each control point is calculated by extremum parameterization of a B-spline basis function, the unknown control points are calculated by substituting the extremum into the curve D. Once all control points are determined, the B-spline surface of the worn blade tip can be regenerated. Finally, the extension algorithm is implemented and validated with several examples.

The proposed algorithm was implemented and verified through the exampled blades. Through the extension algorithm, the tip geometry of the worn tip of a twist blade can be regenerated. This method solved a key problem for the repair of a twist blade tip. It provides an appropriate reference model for repairing worn blade tips through AM to build up the blade tip and adaptive machining/polishing processes to reform the blade geometry.

The extension errors for different repair models are compared and analyzed. The authors found that there are several factors affecting the accuracy of the regenerated model. When the cross-section interval and the extension length are set properly, the restoration accuracy for the blade tip can be improved, which is acceptable for the repairing.

The lack of a reference geometric model for worn blades is a significant problem when implementing blade repair through AM and adaptive machining processes. Because the geometric reference model is unavailable for the repair process, reconstruction of the geometry of a worn blade tip is the first crucial step. The authors proposed a surface extension algorithm for the reconstruction of a twist blade tip. Through the implementation of the proposed algorithm, the blade tip model can be regenerated.

Remanufacturing of worn blades with various defects is highly demeaned for the aerospace enterprises considering sustainable development. Unlike straight blades, repair of twist blades encountered a very difficult problem because the geometric reference model is unavailable for the repair processes. This paper proposed a different method to generate the reference model for the repair of a twist blade tip. With this model, repair of twist blades can be implemented through AM to build up the blade tip and adaptive machining to subtract the extra material.

The authors proposed a surface extension algorithm to reconstruct the geometric model for repair of twist blades.

THE estimation of the stresses in airscrew blades presents difficult aerodynamic and structural problems, the solution of which often involves considerable labour even after simplifying assumptions have been made. The aerodynamic problems associated with airscrew design have received considerable attention and extensive wind tunnel tests have been made, but on the other hand, the literature on the elastic problems presented by the airscrew is nothing like as extensive, and is mainly concerned with the twisting of the blades and the frequencies of blade vibrations. There then appears to be some justification for taking the present opportunity to concentrate on the strength side of airscrew design, dcaliug especially with the blade bending stresses which arise. On this account methods of estimating the air loads on the blades will not be dealt with here, where it will be assumed that the distribution of the air loads on the blades is known.

ORDINARILY, for the purpose of strength calculations, as well as in estimating bending and torsional rigidity with a view to deriving blade deflections and investigating flutter characteristics, the blade is regarded as flat (i.e. as if designed for zero pitch); any effects of the twisted form of the blade in causing departures from the classical bending and torsion theories being regarded as secondary. It has never, however, been proved that they are actually negligible, and an approximate analysis indicates that they may in some cases become appreciable.

BECAUSE of the complexity of rotor theory which has been developed for tapered and twisted blades (for example, Sissingh's well known papers) there is a great tendency to use and draw conclusions from the simple theory developed for untwisted untapered blades. In the United States this practice appears to be almost universal, and much use is made of the highly questionable ‘equivalent chord’ when dealing with tapered blades. It cannot be too much emphasized that there is no such thing as an ‘equivalent chord’, and that its use not only masks the true effect of taper, but leads to solutions which in some cases are in considerable error.

Structural analysis of advanced propellers (propfans) is only possible by use of numerical methods because, due to the geometry and the loading, a geometrically non‐linear calculation is required. Algorithms applicable to the finite element method are presented and employed in the calculation of a propfan‐blade. This blade is discretized as a shallow shell. The constitutive equations for isotropic and for layered material are implemented into the formulation of the finite elements. The quasistatic deformations resulting from centrifugal forces as well as the eigenmodes and eigenfrequencies (as a function of rotational speed) are presented. For a propfan‐blade of composite material the methods of mathematical optimization are used to minimize the displacement at the tip of the blade, using the fibre orientation as design variables. In a second calculation, the twisting of the blade is minimized. It is shown that the deformation behaviour can greatly be influenced by the fibre orientation.

A small wind turbine blade was designed and optimized in this research paper. The blade plays an important role, because it is the most important part of the energy absorption system. Consequently, the blade has to be designed carefully to enable to absorb energy with its greatest efficiency. The main objective of this paper is to optimized blade number and selection of tip speed ratio corresponding to the solidity. The power performance of small horizontal axis wind turbines was simulated in detail using blade element momentum methods (BEM). In this paper for wind blade design various factors such as tip loss, hub loss, drag coefficient, and wake were considered. The design process includes the selection of the wind turbine type and the determination of the blade airfoil, twist angle distribution along the radius, and chord length distribution along the radius. A parametric study that will determine if the optimized values of blade twist angle and chord length create the most efficient blade geometry. The 3-bladed, 5-bladed and 7-bladed rotor achieved maximum values of Cp 0.46, 0.5 and 0.48 at the tip speed ratio 7, 5 and 4 respectively. It was observed that using BEM theory, maximum Cp varied with strongly solidity and weakly with the blade number. The studies showed that the power coefficient increases upto blade number B = 5, while the blade number if increased above 5 then the power coefficient decreases at operating pitch angle equal to 3°. Highest Cp would have solidity between 4% to 6% for number of blade 3 and design point tip speed ratio of about "7". Highest Cp would have solidity ranging from 5% to 10% for number of blade 5 and 7 and design point tip speed ratio of about 5 and 4 respectively.

THIS paper presents a summary of the method and results of a general investigation into the performance characteristics of ‘single’ autogyro and helicopter rotors, which was a preliminary to the establishment, by the firm the author serves, of a helicopter division.

In‐plane vibration of a balanced helicopter rotor is caused by variations with azimuth of the in‐plane forces acting on individual blades. These forces may be summarized under three headings: ‘Induced forces’ caused by the inclination of elemental lift vectors relative to the axis of rotation. ‘Profile drag forces’: variations are caused by changes with azimuth angle of the angle and airspeed of the individual blade elements. ‘Coriolis forces’, which are caused by blade flapping, which brings about a variation of blade moment of inertia about the axis of rotation. Equations are developed in this paper for the resultant hub force due to each of these forces, on the assumptions of small flapping hinge offset. It is assumed that blades are linearly twisted and tapered, an assumption which in practice can be applied to any normal rotor. It is shown that by suitably inclining the mechanical axis it is possible to balance out the worst induced and profile drag vibrations by the coriolis one, which can be made to have opposite sign. If the mechanical axis is fixed in the fuselage, this suppression is fully effective for one flight condition only. In multi‐rotor helicopters, vibration suppression can be extended over a much wider range by varying the fuselage attitude. The logical result of this analysis is, for single rotor helicopters, a floating mechanical axis which can be adjusted or trimmed by the pilot. This would be quite simple to do on a tip‐driven rotor, and has already been achieved with a mechanical drive on the Doman helicopter. The more important causes of vibration from an unbalanced rotor are next con‐sidered, attention here being confined principally to fully articulated rotors, which are the most difficult to balance because the drag hinges tend to magnify all in‐accuracies in finish and balance. From a brief discussion of the vertical vibration of an imperfect rotor it is shown that some contemporary methods of ‘tracking’ are fundamentally wrong. Finally the vibration due to tip‐mounted power units is described. In discussing the effect of a vibratory force on a helicopter a simple response chart is developed, and it is thought that its use could well be accepted as a simple standard for general assessment purposes. In the development of equations for vibration the following points of general technical interest are put forward: An equation for induced torque is developed which includes a number of hitherto neglected parameters. A new form of equation for mean lift coefficient of a blade is suggested. The simple Hafner criterion for flight envelopes is shown to give rise to considerable error, and the use of Eq. (28) is suggested in its place. The variation of profile torque with forward speed is given, and the increase due to ? varying round the disk is expressed as an explicit equation, thus allowing considerable improvement in the present methods of allowing for this effect.

This paper aims to compare the comprehensive rotorcraft analyses using the two different blade section property data sets for the blade natural frequencies, airloads, elastic deformations, the trimmed rotor pitch control angles and the blade structural loads of a small-scale model rotor in a blade vortex interaction (BVI) phenomenon.

The two different blade section property data sets for the first Higher-harmonic control Aeroacoustic Rotor Test (HART-I) are considered for the present rotor aeromechanics analyses. One is the blade property data set using the predicted values which is one of the estimated data sets used for the previous validation works. The other data set uses the measured values for an uninstrumented blade. A comprehensive rotorcraft analysis code, CAMRAD II (comprehensive analytical model of rotorcraft aerodynamics and dynamics II), is used to predict the rotor aeromechanics such as the blade natural frequencies, airloads, elastic deformations, the trimmed rotor pitch control angles and the blade structural loads for the three test cases with and without higher-harmonic control pitch inputs. In CAMRAD II modelling with the two different blade property data sets, the blade is represented as a geometrically nonlinear elastic beam, and the multiple-trailer wake with consolidation model is used to consider more elaborately the BVI effect in low-speed descending flight. The aeromechanics analysis result sets using the two different blade section property data sets are compared with each other as well as are correlated with the wind-tunnel test data.

The predicted blade natural frequencies using the two different blade section property data sets at non-rotating condition are quite similar to each other except for the natural frequency in the fourth flap mode. However, the natural frequencies using the predicted blade properties at nominal rotating condition are lower than those with the measured blade properties except for the second lead-lag frequency. The trimmed collective pitch control angle with the predicted blade properties is higher than both the wind-tunnel test data and the result using the measured blade properties in all the three test cases. The two different blade property data sets both give reasonable predictions on the blade section normal forces with BVI in the three test cases, and the two analysis results are reasonably similar to each other. The blade elastic deformations at the tip using the measured blade properties are correlated more closely with the wind-tunnel test data than those using the predicted blade properties in most correlation examples. In addition, the predictions of blade structural loads can be slightly or moderately improved by using the measured blade properties particularly for the oscillatory flap bending moments. Finally, the movement of the sectional centre of gravity location of the uninstrumented blade has a moderate influence on the blade elastic twist at the tip in the baseline case and the oscillatory flap bending moment in the minimum noise case.

The present comparison study on rotor aeromechanics analyses using the two different blade property data sets will show the influence of blade section properties on rotor aeromechanics analysis.

This paper is the first attempt to compare the aeromechanics analysis results using the two different blade section property data sets for all three test cases (baseline, minimum noise and minimum vibration) of HART-I in low-speed descending flight.

IN the majority of cases, the performance of a new airscrew design is estimated by making use of other test results, already known, and which are recalculated for the particular case in question by applying the laws of similarity.