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NASA NTRS2022

Yuma 2022 Rotorcraft Acoustic Flight Test

A cooperative flight test campaign between U.S. Navy, Army, Marine Corps, and NASA was performed at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Yuma from 19 January to 15 February 2022. The primary purpose of testing military vehicles was to characterize the acoustic signature of the MV-22 rotorcraft and Stalker unmanned aerial system for typical mission gross weight, configuration, and for a range of typical mission operating conditions. Additionally, a civilian MD530 vehicle was tested to characterize the acoustic emissions for both legacy blades and S411 main rotor blades. This report provides an overview of the test, documents the data acquired, and describes the formats of the stored data.

Acoustics↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Medium-Sized Helicopter Noise Abatement Flight Test

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Helicopter↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Investigation of Speed and Altitude Effects on Sound Exposure Level Calculations for Multiple Helicopters

International and United States Federal regulations evaluate helicopter acoustic emissions for certification purposes as well as community noise impact assessments. The Sound Exposure Level (SEL) is a commonly used metric that represents the loudness of a single event, with a penalty for duration. For example, a flyover lasting ten seconds can have the same SEL as a five-second duration flyover that is 3 dB higher in peak level. Ten helicopters spanning the light and medium weight classes were modeled using flight test data. They were then virtually flown using the Advanced Acoustic Model at multiple speeds and altitudes. SEL and A-weighted SEL (SELA) were calculated at ground-based observer locations for each condition. Scaling laws with altitude are determined, and cruising airspeeds which result in the minimum SEL are found. Implications for future land-use planning will be discussed, and the relationships are reduced to general or vehicle-specific operational guidance for pilots.

community noise↗