Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Flight Dynamics 09
Flight Dynamics 09
Aircraft Performance
Lecture 9:
Helicopters
G. Dimitriadis
University of Liege 1
Textbooks
• Bramwell’s Helicopter Dynamics, A. R.
S. Bramwell, G. Done, D. Balmford,
Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001
• Basic Helicopter Aerodynamics, J.
Seddon, BSP (Blackwell Scientific
Publications) Professional, 1990
• Principles of Helicopter Aerodynamics,
J. G. Leishman, Cambridge University
Press, 2000 2
Introduction
• Helicopters can do all this:
Hovering flight, reverse Rolls, backflips etc
3
Not helicopters
• Autogyros, gyrogliders etc are not
helicopters.
Cierva C.4, 1923
Cierva C.19,
1932
Fa 330,
Gyroglider (or
rotorkite),
1943
4
Helicopters Gyroplane de Breguet, 1907
Helicoptère de Paul Cornu, 1907
Breguet-Dorand, Gyroplane
Pescara Helicopter No 3, 1924 Laboratoire,1935
5
Belgian First
• The first ever tandem rotor helicopter was
built by Nicolas Florine.
• It first flew in 1933 at the Laboratoire
Aérotechnique de Belgique (now Von
Karman Institute).
6
Modern helicopters
Bell 204/205, 1955 Aerospatiale Alouette II, 1955 CH-47, Chinook, 1957
8
How does a
helicopter fly?
• By accelerating downwards a column of
air through the rotor. v=0
p∞
=− + % ( +1 15
vh 2v h $ 2v h '
Induced power and
climb power
• Therefore, we can write that Pi = Th (Vc + v i )
• Leading to:
Pi Th (Vc + v i )
= =
Ph Th v h
2
Vc " Vc %
+ $ ' +1
2v h # 2v h &
16
Realistic climbing
rotor wake
• The results
shown before
assume that the
wake is a
column with a
smooth and
continuous
vertical velocity
distribution
• A real wake is
much more
complex
17
Realistic climbing
rotor wake (2)
• Depending on Blade
the rotation
speed, climb
speed, blade
span and blade Tip vortex
twist, the blade
can produce:
– Lift near the tip
(the wake curls Inner
upwards) vortex
– Downforce sheet
near the root
(the wake curls
downwards)
18
Realistic descending
rotor wake
• When the
helicopter is
descending,
the rotor
descends into
its own wake.
19
Descent
• Climb is an easy case. The rotor wake lies
under the rotor and the rotor itself climbs into a
smooth airflow.
• On the contrary, when the helicopter is
descending, the rotor descends into its own
wake.
• There are three different possibilities:
– Vortex ring flow: The rotor tips are caught inside
their own vortex rings.
– Turbulent wake state: The rate of descent is so
high that the rotor wake develops upwards but is
quite turbulent.
– Windmill brake state: The rate is even higher. The
rotor wake develops upwards but is well defined. 20
Descent cases
Vortex ring Vortex ring
flow, slow flow, faster
descent descent
Windmill
Turbulent
brake state
wake state
21
Vortex ring state
• Denote by Vd the descent speed.
• If Vd=O(vh), i.e the induced velocity in hover,
then some of the air recirculates around the
rotor.
• Effectively, the rotor wake is squashed onto the
rotor.
• The phenomenon leads to very high descent
speeds and loss of stability.
• Recovery can be accomplished by moving the
helicopter forward so that the rotor encounters
clean air as its wake lies behind it.
22
Windmill brake state
• At much higher descent rates, i.e.
Vd>>vh, the rotor wake develops
upwards.
• The wake is well defined.
• The airflow decelerates on passing
through the rotor.
• The turbulent wake state lies between
the vortex ring and windmill brake
states. The rotor acts as a bluff body. 23
Safe descent
• So how can a helicopter achieve a safe
descent?
• There are two methods:
– Descend very slowly so that Vd<<vh and the
rotor wake effectively descends with the rotor.
– Descend with a forward velocity component so
that the rotor wake lies behind the rotor.
• It must be said that near the ground the
descent speed will be necessarily low.
• Additionally, near the ground the helicopter
can benefit from the ground effect. 24
Ground effect
• A helicopter hovering near the ground
benefits from a large improvement in
efficiency.
• The vertical velocity of the wake on the
ground must be equal to zero.
• Therefore, the induced velocity of the
rotor is very low. As P=Tvi, the power
required to produce the same amount of
thrust is much lower near the ground.
25
Induced velocity in
ground effect
• Induced velocity in ground effect divided
by induced velocity in free air.
h=height above
ground
r=distance from
centre of rotor
divided by R.
26
r
Blade Element Method
ΩR
• Blade Element
Method (BEM),
also known as
strip theory in y
aeroelasticity.
• It consists of c
estimating the
dy
aerodynamic
forces on a R
small element of ψ
a blade, dy.
ψ=azimuth angle 27
Blade Element
• The blade can have a pitch angle of θ. It
also features an inflow angle φ=tan-
1[(V +v )/Ωy].
c i
• Its true angle of attack is given by
α=θ-φ.
28
Blade element lift and
drag
• The blade element lift and drag are given
by: 1
dL = ρU 2cc dy
2 l
1
dD = ρU 2cc d dy
2
• Where cl and cd come from the sectional
characteristics of the blade element.
• The thrust is given by:
dT = dL cosφ − dDsin φ
• The in-plane torque is given by
dQ = (dL sin φ + dDcosφ ) y 29
Approximations
• The inflow angle is assumed to be
small.
• The drag coefficient is assumed to be
much smaller than the lift coefficient.
• Therefore: dT ≈ dL
U ≈ Ωy
dQ ≈ (φdL + dD) y
30
Non-dimensionalizations
• Define the following non-dimensional
quantities: r = y /R = Ωy = U
ΩR ΩR
Vc + v i
λ= = rφ = inflow factor
ΩR
dT
dCT = 2
ρA(ΩR)
dQ
dCQ = 2
ρA(ΩR) R
• Also, for a rotor with N blades define the
solidity factor as:
blade area NcR Nc
σ= = 2 =
disc area πR πR 31
Total thrust and torque
• After non-dimensionalization, the blade
element forces can be integrated over
the blade span to yield:
1 σ 1
CT = ∫ dCT dr = ∫ CL r 2dr
0 2 0
1 σ 1
CQ = ∫ dCQ dr = ∫ (φCL + CD ) r 3dr
0 2 0
2
• So that, finally,
σa & θ λ (
CT = − (4)
2 ' 3 2) 33
Thrust in hover
• If the rotor is in hover, T = 2 ρAv i2 and
CT = 2λ2
• Then, from (4),
σa % θ 1 CT (
CT = −
2 & 3 2 2 *)
'
dy 2 2
• For the case where a=2π,
l
2 = πr 2
(θ − φ )
ρ(ΩR) c
• Define l
cl = 2 = πr 2
(θ − φ ) 35
ρ(ΩR) c
Effect of twist
• Adding geometric twist to the blade can
increase the sectional lift coefficient near
the centre of the rotor.
• This generally means increasing the twist
towards the centre.
• Consider two cases:
– Case θ=θ0. The pitch is constant over the
blade.
– Case θ=θ1+θ2r. The pitch varies over the
blade, i.e. there is geometric twist. For the
pitch to be higher near centre of the rotor, θ2<0
and θ1>θ0.
36
Twist example
Keep in
mind that
this result
was
obtained
using BEM.
3D effects
near the
wingtip
have been
ignored
37
Ideal twist
• The ideal twist distribution is obtained when θr is
constant, i.e. θr=θ0.
• This is a nonlinear twist that cannot be implemented at
the blade root but it is ideal because it corresponds to
the minimum induced power.
38
Forward Flight
• Forward flight
is different to Forward velocity V
vertical climb
and hover!
• It creates a
total thrust that Ω
is not centered V+ΩR
on the rotor.
• This thrust V
causes a
significant
rolling moment V-ΩR
on the rotor, Reversed
making the velocity
helicopter
impossible to
fly. 39
Avoiding the rolling moment
• The way to cancel the rolling moment is to
allow the blade to flap.
• The additional lift of the advancing blade
causes an upward flapping motion.
• Similarly, the lower lift of the retreating
blade causes a downward flapping motion.
• Therefore, the rolling moment is not
transmitted to the helicopter.
40
Flapping
• Flapping is a stable motion because
flapping up causes the lift to drop and
flapping down to increase
Advancing blade Retreating blade
flaps upwards flaps downwards
α<θ α>θ
βr βr
V+Ωr θ Ωr-V θ
41
Corioli’s moments
• The flapping motion causes Corioli’s
moments on the blades:
The Corioli’s
moment is due to
the inequality of
the tip speeds of (1-e)ΩRcosβ+ΩeR
the flapped and
unflapped blades.
It can cause a ΩR
yawing moment on
42
the helicopter
Lagging motion
• The way to avoid the yaw moment due
to flapping is to allow the blade to lag:
43
Pitching (feathering)
• The rotor is not only the lifting surface but
also the propulsion and main control
system.
• The main means of control of the rotor is
the changing of the pitch of the blades
(also known as feathering).
• Pitch control can be either collective (all
blades change pitch at the same time) or
cyclic (the pitch change depends on
whether the blade is advancing or
retreating). 44
Westland Wessex hub
Flap hinge
50
Forward flight, Forward C.G
Case where the
T P lan e Centre of Gravity lies
Pa t h
Tip in front of the rotor
shaft.
T T T
D D
54
W W W
Drag
• There are two main sources of drag:
– Fuselage drag
– Rotor drag
• Fuselage drag is usually calculated in
terms of the so-called equivalent flat
plate area
• Rotor drag is subdivided into
– profile drag
– induced drag 55
Fuselage Drag
• There are two source of fuselage drag:
– Parasite drag
– Interference drag
• Parasite drag has many sources:
57
Rotor drag
• There are two main contributions to rotor
drag:
– Profile drag
– Induced drag
• The profile drag is evaluated with respect
to the drag of the chosen airfoil section
and the angle of attack of the blade using
blade element theory.
• The induced drag can be assumed to be
small for forward steady flight.
58
Power required for
forward flight Maximum forward speed
V cosα D
µ=
ΩR
There is an
optimum Maximum climb rate
advance
ratio, μ,
requiring
minimum
power.
59