A design study of a scale model bearingless helicopter rotor system using composite materials

[摘要] The use of advanced composite materials in helicopter rotor systems offersopportunities for improvements in aerodynamic geometry, performance,weight, damage tolerarice, maintenance and operating costs. Technical aspectsof the design and analysis and the-practical aspects of the manufacture of acomposite rotor system are discussed herein. The rotor system was comparedto an existing conventional teetering rotor system, in order to establish theviability of the new composite rotor system,This rotor system reduced the number of components by 55% and the manufacturing time by half, due to the simplicity of the design and lay up procedure, thusmaking the system economically more viable. The mass was predicted to within1% of that achieved in practice and gave a mass advantage of 50.5% over theconventional rotor. Static tests identified the failure modes and stress concentrationpoints, while. the comparative hover tests showed the system to have±20% less drag. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version]

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand