WHAT IS DISSYMMETRY OF LIFT?

"When the helicopter moves through the air, the relative airflow through the main rotor disc is
different on the advancing side than on the retreating side. The relative wind encountered by the
advancing blade is increased by the forward speed of the helicopter, while the relative wind speed
acting on the retreating blade is reduced by the helicopter’s forward airspeed. Therefore, as a result
of the relative wind speed, the advancing blade side of the rotor disc produces more lift than the
retreating blade side

B FORWARD SPEED

ADVANCING

RETREATING A

COMPENSATION FOR DISSYMETRY OF LIFT.

Blade Flapping occurs when the advancing blade flaps up in its plane of rotation while the retreating
blade flaps down. This up flap velocity results in a downward flow of air (also known as induced flow)
over the airfoil. This shrinks the angle between the resultant relative wind and the chord line thereby
reducing the angle of attack in the blade. Simply put, this reduces lift generated from the advancing
blade. The reverse is true for the retreating blade. The retreating blade has a down flap velocity
resulting in an upwards flow of air on the airfoil. This increases the angle between the chord line and
the resultant relative wind thereby increasing the angle of attack in the blade. This increase in angle
of attack results in increased lift being produced by the retreating blade.

Cyclic feathering occurs when the pilot introduces a control input using the cyclic. In the case of
forward flight, the pilot would want more lift generated on the aft portion of the rotor disc than on the
forward portion of the rotor disk. Due to gyroscopic precession this input must be made 90° prior in
the axis of rotation. This results as an increase in pitch at the 9 o'clock position and decrease in pitch
at the 3 o'clock position. This results in a greater angle of attack in the retreating blade and a lesser
angle of attack and the advancing blade. Thus, this is offsetting dissymmetry of lift.
GYROSCOPIC PRECISSION
Gyroscopic Precession is "the phenomenon of precession occurring in rotating bodies that manifests
as an applied force 90 degrees after application in the direction of rotation." Simply put, any action
made on a spinning body will present itself 90 degrees later in the direction of rotation. So an
increase in pitch at the nose of aircraft will manifest on the left side of the rotor system. This increase
in lift on the left side causes the aircraft to roll to the right. Luckily for the pilot, the engineers that built
the aircraft have rigged it in a way that if you want to turn left, you simply put in left cyclic. This is
because the controls are rigged with a 90 degree offset. So while you are putting in left cyclic
because you want to turn left, the control input is actually being made at the aft portion of the rotor
disk. This is a fundamental concept to understand because it affects other areas of helicopter
aerodynamics.

TRANSVERSE FLOW EFFECT

By definition, this is the difference in lift, drag, and induced flow that exists between the forward half
and aft half of the rotor system between 10 to 20 knots of airspeed. This is due to the fact that airflow
is more horizontal over the front half and more vertical over the rear half of the rotor disk. The more
horizontal air flow over the front half will produce a larger angle of attack and therefore more lift. The
reverse is true for the aft portion of the rotor system which has a decreased angle of attack due to
more downward airflow (induced flow). Due to Gyroscopic Precession (explained in my video here:
https://youtu.be/MH1emIx5Ubs) the difference in angle of attack is manifested 90° later as a right
rolling motion. Pilots also experience slight vibration's due to unequal drag between the front and
rear side of the river system. Less experienced pilots who are unfamiliar with the concept of
transverse flow may notice themselves constantly drifting to the right on takeoffs and landings. By
understanding this aerodynamic phenomenon, pilots can adjust for it. During the 10 to 20 knots of
transverse flow airspeed the corrective action for the pilot is to apply left cyclic to compensate for the
right roll.

IGE AND OGE

In Ground Effect (IGE) and Out of Ground Effect (OGE). This leads to the question, "what is ground
effect?" Ground effect is the increase in lift that occurs when a hovering helicopter is within one rotor
diameter above a surface. When a helicopter hovers, airflow through the rotor system comes down
vertically and vortices develop around the rotor tips. While in ground effect, this down flow of air is
restricted due to ground friction as the airflow is redirected out words and away from the rotor disk.
Because of this, the high velocity of a downwards flow of air (induce flow) is reduced as well as the
rotor tip vortices are pushed away from the helicopter. While hovering out of ground effect, there is
nothing to restrict or redirect the downward flow of air. Therefore there is a high velocity of induced
flow through the rotor system and the wing tip vortices are allowed to develop without any restriction.
Because there is more induced flow while operating out of ground effect, the pilot must increase the
Angle of Incidence in the blades in order to maintain the same Angle of Attack. Keep in mind that
Angle of Incidence is a mechanical angle that a pilot can directly control by manipulating the
collective. However, the Angle of Attack is in aerodynamic angle that is the product of pitch and
induced flow. Due to the fact that the pilot has to increase pitch in order to maintain Angle of Attack
while out of ground effect, there is more drag on the rotor system and therefore requires an increase
in power to maintain lift. This is why it requires more power to hover OGE than IGE. One last factor
to consider while operating at a hover ground effect is the surface condition. Tall grasses, rough
terrain, ground obstructions, water, etc. can all affect airflow as it passes through the rotor disc. This
can cause uneven air flow and therefore uneven lift.

ETL
Effective Translational Lift (ETL) occurs in Helicopters between 16-24 knots of airspeed (dependent
on rotor size, area, and RPM) and is defined as the point at which the rotor system completely
outruns the recirculation of vortices. Thus, the rotor system begins operating in clean, undisturbed
air and produces Lift more efficiently. I use 3 diagrams to show how the helicopter transitions from a
complete stop to forward flight. At 0 knots of airspeed, the rotor system is operating in its own
recirculated air. Once the helicopter begins accelerating in any direction, it transitions into
Translational Lift. This is noticed as a slight increase in rotor efficiency as the rotor vortices are
pushed backwards. As the acceleration continues, the helicopter will effectively outrun these vortices
and pass through the ETL threshold. This point will be noticed by a slight pitching up in attitude (also
referred to as "blowback") due to Dissymmetry of Lift and Gyroscopic Precession. Keep in mind this
differs from Transverse Flow Effect. Transverse flow refers to the difference in airflow over the disk
in he form of horizontal on the front half and vertical on the aft half. ETL refers to the outrunning of
vortices. During this transition the main rotor becomes more efficient and requires less torque for lift.
Since there is less torque required, there is less anti-torque required by the tail rotor to maintain
heading. Also, the tail rotor begins to outrun its own vortices passing through ETL making it more
efficient. Lastly, while in directional flight, some of torque requirement for anti-torque is compensated
for by the vertical fin. For these 3 reasons, there is less left pedal required and therefore the pilot
needs to add right pedal to maintain heading. Last thing to consider here is that all of this happens in
reverse when landing. While on approach when decelerating below 16-24 knots helicopters
transition to a less efficient environment. Pilots need to increase collective to maintain approach
angle and prevent under-arcing or "falling through" the approach. Also, pilots will need to put in more
left pedal to maintain heading and prevent a yawing motion to the right.

Translating Tendency

The topic of this video is Translating Tendency which is the tendency for Helicopters to drift laterally
in the direction of tail rotor thrust. This is also referred to as "torque effect." In rotor systems that turn
counter-clockwise, this is a right lateral drift. It is also the reason why you see Helicopters lean left
skid/wheel low when at a stationary hover. So why does this occur? Remember Newton's 3rd law
that states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction? This is occurring when a
rotor system is turning. As the main rotor turns counter-clockwise, it pushes the aircraft fuselage in
the opposite direction (clockwise). If this were left uncompensated, the fuselage would continue to
rotate around and around clockwise leaving the aircraft uncontrollable. So we fix this by adding an
anti-torque device, aka a tail rotor. The tail rotor counteracts the torque of the main rotor by pushing
the fuselage counter-clockwise to counteract main rotor thrust. The tail rotor does this by pushing the
tail to the right and nose to the left with the mast as the pivot point. Not only this but the tail rotor also
gives us the ability to have heading control by manipulating how much pitch is applied. So this fixes
the problem of heading control but now introduces Translating Tendency. Because the tail rotor
pushes the tail to the right and the main rotor torque effect pushes the nose to the right, the
helicopter now develops a lateral drift to the right. The compensation of main rotor thrust has the
Tendency to Translate into a lateral drift. So how do we compensate for Translating Tendency?
There are 3 ways. 1) Rigging - either by cyclic rigging of the flight controls or structural rigging by
offsetting or leaning of the transmission/mast. 2) Flight Management System - a computer
automatically makes corrective actions in the flight controls. 3) Pilot Input- if the first 2 aren't present,
then the pilot must add a left cyclic input. In all the cases, the result is a left leaning of the rotor disk.
Because the fuselage always follows the rotor, the helicopter will lean to the left when at a stationary
hover. And that's Translating Tendency.