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At least 73 records · Page 4
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NASA NTRS2014

Aerodynamic Limits on Large Civil Tiltrotor Sizing and Efficiency

The NASA Large Civil Tiltrotor (2nd generation, or LCTR2) is a useful reference design for technology impact studies. The present paper takes a broad view of technology assessment by examining the extremes of what aerodynamic improvements might hope to accomplish. Performance was analyzed with aerodynamically idealized rotor, wing, and airframe, representing the physical limits of a large tiltrotor. The analysis was repeated with more realistic assumptions, which revealed that increased maximum rotor lift capability is potentially more effective in improving overall vehicle efficiency than higher rotor or wing efficiency. To balance these purely theoretical studies, some practical limitations on airframe layout are also discussed, along with their implications for wing design. Performance of a less efficient but more practical aircraft with non-tilting nacelles is presented.

Aerodynamics Limits↗
NASA NTRS2018

Development and Initial Testing of the Tiltrotor Test Rig

The NASA Tiltrotor Test Rig (TTR) is a new, large-scale proprotor test system, developed jointly with the U.S. Army and Air Force, to develop a new, large-scale proprotor test system for the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC). The TTR is designed to test advanced proprotors up to 26 feet in diameter at speeds up to 300 knots, and even larger rotors at lower airspeeds. This combination of size and speed is unprecedented and is necessary for research into 21st-century tiltrotors and other advanced rotorcraft concepts. The TTR will provide critical data for validation of state-of-the-art design and analysis tools.

Proprotor↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Conceptual Design of Tiltrotor Aircraft for Urban Air Mobility

There has been an abundance of new and novel aircraft designs created for Urban Air Mobility (UAM) in recent years. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contributes to the research and development of this industry in part by applying its aircraft design tools to create conceptual designs of UAM reference vehicles. The vehicles are intended to quantify the tradeoffs and performance capabilities necessary for VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft in the UAM design space. The reference vehicles represent a variety of configurations that seek to encompass many of the design characteristics suitable for UAM. This work focuses on the conceptual design process of two new NASA reference vehicles. Both aircraft are configured as conventional tiltrotors, but one is powered by turboshaft engines, and one is fully electric. The sizing and performance of the two aircraft are discussed, as well as how the performance and characteristics compare to a selection of other NASA reference vehicles. It is found that the tiltrotor configuration is capable of reaching speeds 43% to 51% faster than the other turboshaft designs, and 54% to 93% faster than the other electric designs. The increased speed leads to a 24% to 42% decrease in overall mission time.

Conceptual Design↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Conceptual Design Trade Studies for Acoustic Predictions of the NASA UAM Tiltrotor Reference Vehicle

A toolchain of low-and mid-fidelity tools is applied to NASA’s Urban Air Mobility tiltrotor reference vehicle to quantify trades in sizing, performance, and noise at the conceptual design level. The process includes conceptual sizing, comprehensive analysis, and acoustic analysis to design and analyze versions of the concept tiltrotor with differing design variables. Rotor tip speed is the primary design variable studied, with blade twist, blade taper, and blade number also considered. The noise metrics used are the FAA/EASA certification Effective Perceived Noise Levels for takeoff, flyover, and approach. Certification condition noise is calculated for all conditions in both conversion and airplane flight modes, with airplane mode flight resulting in noise 10-25EPNdB quieter than conversion mode and tip speed variation providing noise reduction up to 9EPNdB.

Acoustic↗
NASA NTRS1991

The civil tiltrotor aircraft's potential in developing economies

The civilian tiltrotor (CTR) is analyzed as a new transportation technology with the potential for changing one of the key economic factors linked to Third World economic development. It is contended that efficient, low-cost transport services are a necessary condition for the economic development of Third World countries and that the CTR's capabilities and operating costs can provide more efficient transport services than have heretofore been available to such countries. A case study of potential CTR use among the nations of the Carribean Basin region appears to offer both analytical and empirical support to these contentions. The analysis indicates that normal market mechanisms are adequate for development of air cargo services using the CTR's capabilities. It is suggested that implementation of this service may require new institutional arrangements, but overall it is concluded that tiltrotor technology could make an important contribution to the economic development of Third World countries.

Alton, Larry R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Civil tiltrotor transport point design: Model 940A

The objective of this effort is to produce a vehicle layout for the civil tiltrotor wing and center fuselage in sufficient detail to obtain aerodynamic and inertia loads for determining member sizing. This report addresses the parametric configuration and loads definition for a 40 passenger civil tilt rotor transport. A preliminary (point) design is developed for the tiltrotor wing box and center fuselage. This summary report provides all design details used in the pre-design; provides adequate detail to allow a preliminary design finite element model to be developed; and contains guidelines for dynamic constraints.

Rogers, Charles↗
NASA NTRS1992

Shadowgraph flow visualization of isolated tiltrotor and rotor/wing wakes

Shadowgraph flow visualization images were acquired from a 0.184-scale tiltrotor and wing in hover. Measurements and details of the vortex core structure were examined as a function of thrust condition and wake age. Experimental data for the isolated rotor wake geometry and rotor wake interactions with a semi-span wing and image plane were acquired. Quantitative measurements and comparisons of wake geometry and distortion were made for three configurations: the isolated rotor, rotor/wing, and rotor/wing/image plane. Comparisons between tiltrotor and helicopter rotor wake geometry measurements were made. Experimental wake geometry data were also compared with two wake models. Suggestions for improvements to existing prescribed-wake and free-wake models are proposed.

Swanson, Alexandra A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Wing design for a civil tiltrotor transport aircraft: A preliminary study

A preliminary study was conducted on the design of the wing-box structure for a civil tiltrotor transport aircraft. The wing structural weight is to be minimized subject to structural and aeroelastic constraints. The composite wing-box structure is composed of skin, stringers, ribs, and spars. The design variables include skin ply thicknesses and orientations and spar cap and stringer cross-sectional areas. With the total task defined, an initial study was conducted to learn more about the intricate dynamic and aeroelastic characteristics of the tiltrotor aircraft and their roles in the wing design. Also, some work was done on the wing finite-element modeling (via PATRAN) which would be used in structural analysis and optimization. Initial studies indicate that in order to limit the wing/rotor aeroelastic and dynamic interactions in the preliminary design, the cruise speed, rotor system, and wing geometric attributes must all be held fixed.

Rais-Rohani, Masoud↗
NASA NTRS1995

Evaluation of the impact of noise metrics on tiltrotor aircraft design

A subjective noise evaluation was conducted in which the test participants evaluated the annoyance of simulated sounds representative of future civil tiltrotor aircraft. The subjective responses were correlated with the noise metrics of A-weighted sound pressure level, overall sound pressure level, and perceived level. The results indicated that correlation between subjective response and A-weighted sound pressure level is considerably enhanced by combining it in a multiple regression with overall sound pressure level. As a single metric, perceived level correlated better than A-weighted sound pressure level due to greater emphasis on low frequency noise components. This latter finding was especially true for indoor noise where the mid and high frequency noise components are attenuated by typical building structure. Using the results of the subjective noise evaluation, the impact on tiltrotor aircraft design was also evaluated. While A-weighted sound pressure level can be reduced by reduction in tip speed, an increase in number of rotor blades is required to achieve significant reduction of low frequency noise as measured by overall sound pressure level. Additional research, however, is required to achieve comparable reductions in impulsive noise due to blade-vortex interaction, and also to achieve reduction in broad band noise.

Sternfeld, H.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Global Flowfield About the V-22 Tiltrotor Aircraft

This final report includes five publications that resulted from the studies of the global flowfield about the V-22 Tiltrotor Aircraft. The first of the five is 'The Chimera Method of Simulation for Unsteady Three-Dimensional Viscous Flow', as presented in 'Computational Fluid Dynamics Review 1995.' The remaining papers, all presented at AIAA conferences, are 'Unsteady Simulation of the Viscous Flow About a V-22 Rotor and Wing in Hover', 'An Efficient Means of Adaptive Refinement Within Systems of Overset Grids', 'On the Spatial and Temporal Accuracy of Overset Grid Methods for MOving Body Problems', and 'Moving Body Overset Grid Methods for Complete Aircraft Tiltrotor Simulations.'

Meakin, Robert L.↗
NASA NTRS1996

The Use of Piloted Simulation for Civil Tiltrotor Integrated Cockpit Design

Ground-based flight simulators are receiving increased use in the design of civil aircraft. In addition to traditional simulation roles in support of cockpit control and display design, simulators are now used to develop new flight procedures and to assist in airport design. This is particularly true for the concept of a civil tiltrotor transport. This presentation summarizes recent simulation activity at NASA's Ames Research Center focused on the design requirements for the introduction of tiltrotor aircraft as economic vertical flight transports.

Decker, William A.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Improving Tiltrotor Whirl-Mode Stability with Rotor Design Variations

Further increases in tiltrotor speeds are limited by coupled wing/rotor whirl-mode aeroelastic instability. Increased power, thrust, and rotor efficiency are not enough: the whirl-mode stability boundary must also be improved. With current technology, very stiff, thick wings of limited aspect ratio are essential to meet the stability requirements, which severely limits cruise efficiency and maximum speed. Larger and more efficient tiltrotors will need longer and lighter wings, for which whirl-mode flutter is a serious design issue. Numerous approaches to improving the whirl-mode airspeed boundary have been investigated, including tailored stiffness wings, active stability augmentation, variable geometry rotors, highly swept tips, and at one extreme, folding rotors. The research reported herein began with the much simpler approach of adjusting the chordwise positions of the rotor blade aerodynamic center and center of gravity, effected by offsetting the airfoil quarter chord or structural mass with respect to the elastic axis. The research was recently extended to include variations in blade sweep, control system stiffness, and pitch-flap coupling (delta(sub 3)). As an introduction to the subject, and to establish a baseline against which to measure stability improvements, this report will first summarize results. The paper will then discuss more advanced studies of swept blades and control-system modifications.

Acree, C. W., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Effects of Rotor Design Variations on Tiltrotor Whirl-Mode Stability

Further increases in tiltrotor speeds are limited by coupled wing/rotor whirl-mode aeroelastic instability. Increased power, thrust, and efficiency are not enough: the whirl-mode stability boundary must also be improved. With current technology, very stiff, thick wings of limited aspect ratio are essential to meet the stability requirements, which severely limits cruise efficiency and maximum speed. Larger and more efficient tiltrotors will need longer and lighter wings, for which whirl-mode flutter is a serious design issue. Numerous approaches to improving the whirl-mode airspeed boundary have been investigated, typically focusing on wing design, active stability augmentation, and variable geometry rotors. The research reported herein applies the much simpler approach of sweeping the outboard blade sections. The effects-of control-system stiffness were also studied. Reference covers the first phase of the current research and discusses the evolution of the concept.

Acree, C. W., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Measured Aerodynamic Interaction of Two Tiltrotors

The aerodynamic interaction of two model tilrotors in helicopter-mode formation flight is investigated. Three cenarios representing tandem level flight, tandem operations near the ground, and a single tiltrotor operating above thc ground for varying winds are examined. The effect of aircraft separation distance on the thrust and rolling moment of the trailing aircraft with and without the presence of a ground plane are quantified. Without a ground plane, the downwind aircraft experiences a peak rolling moment when the right (left) roto- of the upwind aircraft is laterally aligned with the left (right) rotor of the downwind aircraft. The presence of the ground plane causes the peak rolling moment on the downwind aircraft to occur when the upwind aircraft is further outboard of the downwind aircraft. Ground plane surface flow visualization images obtained using rufts and oil are used to understand mutual interaction between the two aircraft. These data provide guidance in determining tiltrotor flight formations which minimize disturbance to the trailing aircraft.

Yamauchi, Gloria K.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Experimental Investigations of Generalized Predictive Control for Tiltrotor Stability Augmentation

A team of researchers from the Army Research Laboratory, NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC), and Bell Helicopter-Textron, Inc. have completed hover-cell and wind-tunnel testing of a 1/5-size aeroelastically-scaled tiltrotor model using a new active control system for stability augmentation. The active system is based on a generalized predictive control (GPC) algorithm originally developed at NASA LaRC in 1997 for un-known disturbance rejection. Results of these investigations show that GPC combined with an active swashplate can significantly augment the damping and stability of tiltrotors in both hover and high-speed flight.

Nixon, Mark W.↗
NASA NTRS1997

A Comparison of Measured and Predicted XV-15 Tiltrotor Surface Acoustic Pressures

Predicted XV-15 exterior surface acoustic pressures are compared with previously published experimental data. Surface acoustic pressure transducers were concentrated near the tip-path-plane of the rotor in airplane mode. The comparison emphasized cruise conditions which are of interest for tiltrotor interior noise - level flight for speeds ranging from 72 m/s to 113 m/s. The predictions were produced by components of the NASA Langley Tiltrotor Aeroacoustic Code (TRAC) system of computer codes. Comparisons between measurements and predictions were made in both the time and frequency domains, as well as overall sound pressure levels. In general, the predictions replicated the measured data well. Discrepancies between measurements and predictions were noted. Some of the discrepancies were due to poor correlation of the measured data with the rotor tach signal. In other cases limitations of the predictive methodology have been indicated.

Lyle, Karen H.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Further Results of Soft-Inplane Tiltrotor Aeromechanics Investigation Using Two Multibody Analyses

This investigation focuses on the development of multibody analytical models to predict the dynamic response, aeroelastic stability, and blade loading of a soft-inplane tiltrotor wind-tunnel model. Comprehensive rotorcraft-based multibody analyses enable modeling of the rotor system to a high level of detail such that complex mechanics and nonlinear effects associated with control system geometry and joint deadband may be considered. The influence of these and other nonlinear effects on the aeromechanical behavior of the tiltrotor model are examined. A parametric study of the design parameters which may have influence on the aeromechanics of the soft-inplane rotor system are also included in this investigation.

Masarati, Pierangelo↗
NASA NTRS2001

Airloads and Wake Geometry Calculations for an Isolated Tiltrotor Model in a Wind Tunnel

Comparisons of measured and calculated aerodynamic behavior of a tiltrotor model are presented. The test of the Tilt Rotor Aeroacoustic Model (TRAM) with a single, 0.25-scale V-22 rotor in the German-Dutch Wind Tunnel (DNW) provides an extensive set of aeroacoustic, performance, and structural loads data. The calculations were performed using the rotorcraft comprehensive analysis CAMRAD II. Presented are comparisons of measured and calculated performance for hover and helicopter mode operation, and airloads for helicopter mode. Calculated induced power, profile power, and wake geometry provide additional information about the aerodynamic behavior. An aerodynamic and wake model and calculation procedure that reflects the unique geometry and phenomena of tiltrotors has been developed. There are major differences between this model and the corresponding aerodynamic and wake model that has been established for helicopter rotors. In general, good correlation between measured and calculated performance and airloads behavior has been shown. Two aspects of the analysis that clearly need improvement are the stall delay model and the trailed vortex formation model.

Johnson, Wayne↗