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At least 271 records · Page 15

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NASA NTRS1990

Application of higher harmonic control to hingeless rotor systems

A comprehensive analytical formulation has been dveloped to predict the vibratory hub loads of a helicopter rotor system in forward flight. The analysis is used to calculate the optimal higher harmonic control inputs and associated actuator power required to minimize these hub loads. The present formulation is based on a finite element method in space and time. A nonlinear time domain, unsteady aerodynamic model is used to obtain the airloads, and the rotor induced inflow is calculated using a nonuniform inflow model. Predicted vibratory hub loads are correlated with experimental data obtained from a scaled model rotor. Results of a parametric study on a hingeless rotor show that blade flap, lag and torsion vibration characteristics, offset of blade center of mass from elastic axis, offset of elastic axis from quarter-chord axis, and blade thrust greatly affect the higher harmonic control actuator power requirement.

Nguyen, Khanh↗

NASA NTRS1990

Modal analysis of UH 60A instrumented rotor blades

The dynamic characteristics of instrumented and production UH-60A Black Hawk main rotor blades were measured, and the results were validated with NASTRAN finite element models. The blades tested included pressure and strain-gage instrumented blades which are part of NASA's Airloads Flight Research Phase of the Modern Technology Rotor Program. The dynamic similarity of the blades was required for accurate data collection in this program. Therefore, a nonrotating blade modal analysis was performed on the first 10 free-free modes to measure blade similarities. The results showed small differences between the modal frequencies of instrumented and production blades and a close correlation with the NASTRAN models. This type of modal testing and analysis is recommended as a standard procedure for future instrumented blade flight testing.

Hamade, Karen S.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Unsteady aerodynamic loading of delta wings for low and high angles of attack

Experimental and theoretical investigations dealing with unsteady flow phenomena are surveyed, with the emphasis on the pattern of vortices which originate from flow separation at sharp leading edges. It is concluded that these vortices exhibit quasi-steady behavior when the alpha-vibrations are such that bursting instability does not occur above the wing surface. A selection of test results from Jarrah (1988) is presented and discussed. For sharp-edged delta models at low speeds, the aerodynamic loads which are plotted quantify the role of parameters AR and K for three ranges of alpha-variation. An extremely approximate and empirical 'theory' is offered, with data on crossflow drag and burst location, to reproduce the behavior of these airloads up to 90 deg. Recent attempts to apply the more sophisticated tools of computational fluid dynamics to the combination of unsteadiness and very high alpha are shown to be deficient.

Ashley, H.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Survey of research on unsteady aerodynamic loading of delta wings

For aeronautical applications, there has been recent interest in accurately determining the aerodynamic forces and moments experienced by low-aspect-ratio wings performing transient maneuvers which go to angles of attack as high as 90 deg. Focusing on the delta planform with sharp leading edges, the paper surveys experimental and theoretical investigations dealing with the associated unsteady flow phenomena. For maximum angles above a value between 30 and 40 deg, flow details and airloads are dominated by hysteresis in the 'bursting' instability of intense vortices which emanate from the leading edge. As examples of relevant test results, force and moment histories are presented for a model series with aspect ratios 1, 1.5 and 2. Influences of key parameters are discussed, notably those which measure unsteadiness. Comparisons are given with two theories: a paneling approximation that cannot capture bursting but clarifies other unsteady influences, and a simplified estimation scheme which uses measured bursting data.

Ashley, H.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Analysis of rotor vibratory loads using higher harmonic pitch control

Experimental studies of isolated rotors in forward flight have indicated that higher harmonic pitch control can reduce rotor noise. These tests also show that such pitch inputs can generate substantial vibratory loads. The modification is summarized of the RotorCRAFT (Computation of Rotor Aerodynamics in Forward flighT) analysis of isolated rotors to study the vibratory loading generated by high frequency pitch inputs. The original RotorCRAFT code was developed for use in the computation of such loading, and uses a highly refined rotor wake model to facilitate this task. The extended version of RotorCRAFT incorporates a variety of new features including: arbitrary periodic root pitch control; computation of blade stresses and hub loads; improved modeling of near wake unsteady effects; and preliminary implementation of a coupled prediction of rotor airloads and noise. Correlation studies are carried out with existing blade stress and vibratory hub load data to assess the performance of the extended code.

Quackenbush, Todd R.↗

NASA NTRS1992

CSM solutions of rotating blade dynamics using integrating matrices

The dynamic behavior of flexible rotating beams continues to receive considerable research attention as it constitutes a fundamental problem in applied mechanics. Further, beams comprise parts of many rotating structures of engineering significance. A topic of particular interest at the present time involves the development of techniques for obtaining the behavior in both space and time of a rotor acted upon by a simple airload loading. Most current work on problems of this type use solution techniques based on normal modes. It is certainly true that normal modes cannot be disregarded, as knowledge of natural blade frequencies is always important. However, the present work has considered a computational structural mechanics (CSM) approach to rotor blade dynamics problems in which the physical properties of the rotor blade provide input for a direct numerical solution of the relevant boundary-and-initial-value problem. Analysis of the dynamics of a given rotor system may require solution of the governing equations over a long time interval corresponding to many revolutions of the loaded flexible blade. For this reason, most of the common techniques in computational mechanics, which treat the space-time behavior concurrently, cannot be applied to the rotor dynamics problem without a large expenditure of computational resources. By contrast, the integrating matrix technique of computational mechanics has the ability to consistently incorporate boundary conditions and 'remove' dependence on a space variable. For problems involving both space and time, this feature of the integrating matrix approach thus can generate a 'splitting' which forms the basis of an efficient CSM method for numerical solution of rotor dynamics problems.

Lakin, William D.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Helicopter noise prediction - The current status and future direction

The paper takes stock of the progress, assesses the current prediction capabilities, and forecasts the direction of future helicopter noise prediction research. The acoustic analogy approach, specifically, theories based on the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equations, are the most widely used for deterministic noise sources. Thickness and loading noise can be routinely predicted given good plane motion and blade loading inputs. Blade-vortex interaction noise can also be predicted well with measured input data, but prediction of airloads with the high spatial and temporal resolution required for BVI is still difficult. Current semiempirical broadband noise predictions are useful and reasonably accurate. New prediction methods based on a Kirchhoff formula and direct computation appear to be very promising, but are currently very demanding computationally.

Brentner, Kenneth S.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Flowfield analysis of modern helicopter rotors in hover by Navier-Stokes method

The viscous, three-dimensional, flowfields of UH60 and BERP rotors are calculated for lifting hover configurations using a Navier-Stokes computational fluid dynamics method with a view to understand the importance of planform effects on the airloads. In this method, the induced effects of the wake, including the interaction of tip vortices with successive blades, are captured as a part of the overall flowfield solution without prescribing any wake models. Numerical results in the form of surface pressures, hover performance parameters, surface skin friction and tip vortex patterns, and vortex wake trajectory are presented at two thrust conditions for UH60 and BERP rotors. Comparison of results for the UH60 model rotor show good agreement with experiments at moderate thrust conditions. Comparison of results with equivalent rectangular UH60 blade and BERP blade indicates that the BERP blade, with an unconventional planform, gives more thrust at the cost of more power and a reduced figure of merit. The high thrust conditions considered produce severe shock-induced flow separation for UH60 blade, while the BERP blade develops more thrust and minimal separation. The BERP blade produces a tighter tip vortex structure compared with the UH60 blade. These results and the discussion presented bring out the similarities and differences between the two rotors.

Srinivasan, G. R.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Sensitivity analysis of flutter response of a typical section and a wing in transonic flow

A sensitivity analysis of flutter response of a two-degree of freedom airfoil with plunging and pitching degrees of freedom in transonic flow was performed using a state-space representation of the unsteady aerodynamic behavior. The structural equations of motion of the airfoil with bending and torsional degrees of freedom are coupled to the unsteady airloads, and the aeroelastic system so modeled is solved as an eigenvalue problem to determine the stability. The results of eigenanalysis showed good agreement with flutter calculations performed using a time-integration of the aeroelastic equations. The sensitivities of the flutter speed with respect to the mass and stiffness parameters wee computed by both the analytical and finite difference methods, showing excellent agreement.

Kapania, Rakesh K.↗

NASA NTRS1992

A finite-volume Euler solver for computing rotary-wing aerodynamics on unstructured meshes

An unstructured-grid solver for the unsteady Euler equations has been developed for predicting the aerodynamics of helicopter rotor blades. This flow solver is a finite-volume scheme that computes flow quantities at the vertices of the mesh. Special treatments are used for the flux differencing and boundary conditions in order to compute rotary-wing flowfields, and these are detailed in the paper. The unstructured-grid solver permits adaptive grid refinement in order to improve the resolution of flow features such as shocks, rotor wakes and acoustic waves. These capabilities are demonstrated in the paper. Example calculations are presented for two hovering rotors. In both cases, adaptive-grid refinement is used to resolve high gradients near the rotor surface and also to capture the vortical regions in the rotor wake. The computed results show good agreement with experimental results for surface airloads and wake geometry.

Strawn, Roger C.↗

NASA NTRS1993

The strake - A simple means for directional control improvement

On the basis of several flight test programs conducted to date, a directional control margin improvement of at least 5 percent is obtainable for right-sideward flight throught the use of flow pattern separation-controlling tail-boom strakes. The enhanced directional control margin is critically important in low speed maneuvers, where high airloads are experienced by the tailboom. Numerous European helicopters have incorporated the strake on their tailbooms.

Wilson, John C.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Free-wake computation of helicopter rotor flowfields in forward flight

A new method has been developed for computing advancing rotor flows. This method uses the Vorticity Embedding technique, which has been developed and validated over the last several years for hovering rotor problems. In this work, the unsteady full potential equation is solved on an Eulerian grid with an embedded vortical velocity field. This vortical velocity accounts for the influence of the wake. Dynamic grid changes that are required to accommodate prescribed blade motion and deformation are included using a novel grid blending method. Free wake computations have been performed on a two-bladed AH-1G rotor at low advance ratios including blade motion. Computed results are compared with experimental data. The sudden variations in airloads due to blade-vortex interactions on the advancing and retreating sides are well captured. The sensitivity of the computed solution to various factors like core size, time step and grids has been investigated. Computed wake geometries and their influence on the aerodynamic loads at these advance ratios are also discussed.

Ramachandran, K.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Higher harmonic control analysis for vibration reduction of helicopter rotor systems

An advanced higher harmonic control (HHC) analysis has been developed and applied to investigate its effect on vibration reduction levels, blade and control system fatigue loads, rotor performance, and power requirements of servo-actuators. The analysis is based on a finite element method in space and time. A nonlinear time domain unsteady aerodynamic model, based on the indicial response formulation, is used to calculate the airloads. The rotor induced inflow is computed using a free wake model. The vehicle trim controls and blade steady responses are solved as one coupled solution using a modified Newton method. A linear frequency-domain quasi-steady transfer matrix is used to relate the harmonics of the vibratory hub loads to the harmonics of the HHC inputs. Optimal HHC is calculated from the minimization of the vibratory hub loads expressed in term of a quadratic performance index. Predicted vibratory hub shears are correlated with wind tunnel data. The fixed-gain HHC controller suppresses completely the vibratory hub shears for most of steady or quasi-steady flight conditions. HHC actuator amplitudes and power increase significantly at high forward speeds (above 100 knots). Due to the applied HHC, the blade torsional stresses and control loads are increased substantially. For flight conditions where the blades are stalled considerably, the HHC input-output model is quite nonlinear. For such cases, the adaptive-gain controller is effective in suppressing vibratory hub loads, even though HHC may actually increase stall areas on the rotor disk. The fixed-gain controller performs poorly for such flight conditions. Comparison study of different rotor systems indicates that a soft-inplane hingeless rotor requires less actuator power at high speeds (above 130 knots) than an articulated rotor, and a stiff-inplane hingeless rotor generally requires more actuator power than an articulated or a soft-inplane hingeless rotor. Parametric studies for a hingeless rotor operating in a transition flight regime and for an articulated rotor operating at the level-flight boundary (high speed and high thrust conditions) indicate that blade parameters including flap, lag, torsion stiffness distributions, linear pretwist, chordwise offset of center-of-mass from elastic axis and chordwise offset of elastic axis from aerodynamic center can be selected to minimize the actuator power requirements for HHC.

Nguyen, Khanh Q.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Aircraft noise prediction program theoretical manual: Rotorcraft System Noise Prediction System (ROTONET), part 4

This document describes the theoretical methods used in the rotorcraft noise prediction system (ROTONET), which is a part of the NASA Aircraft Noise Prediction Program (ANOPP). The ANOPP code consists of an executive, database manager, and prediction modules for jet engine, propeller, and rotor noise. The ROTONET subsystem contains modules for the prediction of rotor airloads and performance with momentum theory and prescribed wake aerodynamics, rotor tone noise with compact chordwise and full-surface solutions to the Ffowcs-Williams-Hawkings equations, semiempirical airfoil broadband noise, and turbulence ingestion broadband noise. Flight dynamics, atmosphere propagation, and noise metric calculations are covered in NASA TM-83199, Parts 1, 2, and 3.

Weir, Donald S.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Observed acoustic and aeroelastic spectral responses of a MOD-2 turbine blade to turbulence excitation

Early results from a recent experiment designed to directly evaluate the aeroacoustic/elastic spectral responses of a MOD-2 turbine blade to turbulence-induced unsteady blade loads are discussed. The experimental procedure consisted of flying a hot-film anemometer from a tethered balloon in the turbine inflow and simultaneously measuring the fluctuating airload and aeroelastic response at two blade span stations (65% and 87% spans) using surface-mounted, subminiature pressure transducers and standard strain gage instrumentation. The radiated acoustic pressure field was measured with a triad of very-low-frequency microphones placed at ground level, 1.5 rotor diameters upwind of the disk. Initial transfer function estimates for acoustic radiation, blade normal forces, flapwise acceleration/displacement, and chord/flapwise moments are presented.

Kelley, N. D.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Advance finite element modeling of rotor blade aeroelasticity

An advanced beam finite element has been developed for modeling rotor blade dynamics and aeroelasticity. This element is part of the Element Library of the Second Generation Comprehensive Helicopter Analysis System (2GCHAS). The element allows modeling of arbitrary rotor systems, including bearingless rotors. It accounts for moderately large elastic deflections, anisotropic properties, large frame motion for maneuver simulation, and allows for variable order shape functions. The effects of gravity, mechanically applied and aerodynamic loads are included. All kinematic quantities required to compute airloads are provided. In this paper, the fundamental assumptions and derivation of the element matrices are presented. Numerical results are shown to verify the formulation and illustrate several features of the element.

Straub, F. K.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Aerodynamic Limitations of the UH-60A Rotor

High quality airloads data have been obtained on an instrumented UH-60A in flight and these data provide insight into the aerodynamic limiting behavior of the rotor. At moderate weight coefficients and high advance ratio limiting performance is largely caused by high drag near the blade tip on the advancing side of the rotor as supercritical flow develops on the rotor with moderate to strong, shocks on both surfaces of the blade. Drag divergence data from two-dimensional airfoil tests show good agreement with the development of the supercritical flow regions. Large aerodynamic pitching moments are observed at high advance ratio, as well, and these pitching moments are the source of high torsional moments on the blade and control system loads. These loads occur on the advancing side of the disk and are not related to blade stall which does not occur for these weight coefficients. At high weight coefficients aerodynamic and structural limits are related to dynamic stall cycles that begin on the retreating side of the blade and, for the most severe conditions, carry around to the advancing side of the blade at the presumed first frequency of the blade/control system.

Coleman, Colin P.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Helicopter Rotor Blade Computation in Unsteady Flows Using Moving Overset Grids

An overset grid thin-layer Navier-Stokes code has been extended to include dynamic motion of helicopter rotor blades through relative grid motion. The unsteady flowfield and airloads on an AH-IG rotor in forward flight were computed to verify the methodology and to demonstrate the method's potential usefulness towards comprehensive helicopter codes. In addition, the method uses the blade's first harmonics measured in the flight test to prescribe the blade motion. The solution was impulsively started and became periodic in less than three rotor revolutions. Detailed unsteady numerical flow visualization techniques were applied to the entire unsteady data set of five rotor revolutions and exhibited flowfield features such as blade vortex interaction and wake roll-up. The unsteady blade loads and surface pressures compare well against those from flight measurements. Details of the method, a discussion of the resulting predicted flowfield, and requirements for future work are presented. Overall, given the proper blade dynamics, this method can compute the unsteady flowfield of a general helicopter rotor in forward flight.

Ahmad, Jasim↗