Response studies of rotors and rotor blades with application to aeroelastic tailoring

Abstract

Various tools for the aeroelastic stability and response analysis of rotor blades in hover and forward flight were developed and incorporated in a comprehensive package capable of performing aeroelastic tailoring of rotor blades in forward flight. The results indicate that substantial vibration reductions, of order 15-40%, in the vibratory hub shears can be achieved by relatively small modifications of the initial design. Furthermore the optimized blade can be up to 20% lighter than the original design. Accomplishments are reported for the following tasks: (1) finite element modeling of rotary-wing aeroelastic problems in hover and forward flight; (2) development of numerical methods for calculating the aeroelastic response and stability of rotor blades in forward fight; (3) formulation of the helicopter air resonance problem in hover with active controls; and (4) optimum design of rotor blades for vibration reduction in forward flight