Helícopteros y aeronaves

diversas
5. Rotor mechanics for
forward flight

Adrián García Gutiérrez

agarcg@unileon.es
Table of contents

1 Types of rotors

2 Flapping motion

3 References

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 Types of rotors
There are basically four types of
helicopter rotor hubs in use:
1 Teetering design (rotor balanceante)
2 Articulated design (rotor articulado)
3 Hingeless design (rotor semirígido)
4 Bearingless design (rotor flexible)

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Teetering design (rotor balanceante)
1 The blades are connected so that as one blade flaps up the other flaps down
like a seesaw. A separate pitch or feathering bearing on each blade allows for
cyclic and collective pitch capability.
2 A stabilizer bar can be included, which acts like a gyroscope maintaining its
orientation in space and introduces a flapping-blade cyclic pitch feedback,
which gives the helicopter increased flight stability.
3 The main advantage is that it is mechanically simple with a low parts count,
and it is easy to maintain. It can have a relatively high parasitic drag in forward
flight, mainly due to the stabilizer bar, which has been removed in later designs.

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 Articulated rotor
1 A mechanical flap and lead-lag
hinges are provided on each blade
along with a feathering bearing.
2 The articulated rotor design is
mechanically complicated with many
components and is relative
expensive to maintain.
3 It is also heavy and produces
relatively high drag in forward flight.
Nevertheless, the fully articulated design
is the classic approach and has proven
mechanically reliable.

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Hingeless rotor (rotor semirígido)
1 A hingeless rotor design eliminates
the flap and lead-lag hinges by
using a flexure to accommodate
blade motion.
2 A feathering bearing is still used to
allow for pitch changes on each
blade.
3 The advantage of a hingeless
design is that it is mechanically
simple, although the design of such Advantages: Mechanical simplicity, low
rotors is rather complicated. There parts count, low aerodynamic drag.
is usually significant flap-lag Powerful response to control inputs,
coupling. increasing maneuvering capability.

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Bearingless rotor (rotor flexible)
1 Relatively new innovation.
2 It eliminates both hinges and the feathering bearing =⇒ all three degrees of
motion are obtained by bending, flexing and twisting of the hub structure.
3 Materials: composites, Kevlar, etc.
4 Designing is difficult and require structural dynamic analysis.
5 Aeromechanical instabilities as a result of low in-plane damping of the lead-lag
blade motion.

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 Flapping motion
Z R Z R Z R
2
y dT − my β̈dy − mβy 2 Ω2 dy = 0
0 0 0
(1)

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Equations of motion for a flapping blade I
Using the blade element theory:
R 1     
Up
Z Z
1 1 UT UT
Mβ = ydL = r θ− dr (2)
ρacR 4 ω2 0 2 0 ΩR ΩR ΩR

After substituting the results for UT and Up obtained previously:

1 μ μ2 2
M β = θ( + sin ψ + sin ψ)+
8 3 4
μ2 2
 
1 μ 1 μ
θtw + sin ψ + sin ψ − λ( + sin ψ)−
10 4 6 6 4
   
∗ 1 μ 1 μ
β + sin ψ − βμ cos ψ + sin ψ (3)
8 6 6 4

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Flapping Motion ∗∗
From the equation β + β = γ M β :
   
θ0 θtw 5 2 μ λ
β0 = γ (1 + μ2 ) + 1 + μ + θ1s − (4)
8 10 6 6 6
− 34 μβ0
β1s − θ1c = 1 2
, (5)
1+ μ2
8μ θ0 − 34 λ + 34 μθ1s + 43 θtw
β1c + θ1s = − (6)
3 (1 − 21 μ2 )

β1s − θ1c = 0 =⇒ β1s = θ1c , β1c + θ1s = 0 =⇒ β1c = −θ1s (7)

If θ = θ0 + θ1c cos ψ + θ1s sin ψ,
β = β0 + θ1c sin ψ − θ1s cos ψ (8)
or
π π
β = β0 + θ1c cos(ψ − ) + θ1s sin(ψ − ) (9)
2 2
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Physical description of blade flapping I
The basic physics of blade flapping are relatively elementary, although on an actual
helicopter during flight, the combined harmonics of the flapping displacements
result in a more complicated blade motion. To this end, it is convenient to explain
the net blade motion in terms of the contributing elements.

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Coning angle
The coefficient β0 is the average or mean part of the flapping motion that is
independent of time or blade azimuth, β0 .
In hovering flight, β(ψ) = β0 , which, as mentioned previously, is called the
coning angle.
The presence of a coning angle has been pointed out to be the angle that
results from the moment balance about the flapping hinge as a result of the
centrifugal and aerodynamic forces.

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Physical description of blade flapping I
Because the centrifugal loads remain constant for a given rotor speed, the coning
angle varies with both the magnitude and distribution of lift across the blade.

Example
A higher gross weight of the helicopter requires a higher blade lift to hover, which
tends to increase the aerodynamic moment about the hinge, resulting in a higher
blade coning angle. Moreover, the inflow velocity has an effect on the blade
spanwise loading. As the magnitude of the inflow increases, for a given overall
total rotor thrust, the blade must become more highly lift loaded toward the tips.
This produces a higher aerodynamic moment about the hinge and, therefore, a
higher coning angle.

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Longitudinal Flapping Angle
The coefficient β1c represents the amplitude of the pure cosine flapping motion.
This represents a longitudinal or fore aft tilt of the rotor tip path plane.
In forward flight, the rotor disk has a natural tendency to tilt back (longitudinally)
because of the dissymmetry in lift produced between the advancing and
retreating sides of the disk.

Observation
The higher dynamic pressure on the advancing side of the disk produces that the
blade lift is increased over that obtained at ψ = 0, 180deg. Therefore, as the blade
rotates into the advancing side of the disk, the excess lift causes the blade to flap
upward, which decreases its lift.

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Longitudinal Flapping Angle

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Lateral Flapping Angle
1 The coefficient β1s represents the amplitude of the pure sine motion.
2 This represents the lateral or left-right tilt of the tip path plane.
3 In addition to the natural tendency for the disk to tilt back with a change in
forward flight speed, the disk also has a tendency to tilt laterally to the right.
4 This effect arises because of blade flapping displacement (coning).

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Higher Harmonics of Blade Flapping
The coefficients β2c , β2s , and so on, represent the amplitudes of the higher
harmonics of the blade motion.
In practice, these are found to be very small and of no substantial significance,
but appear as a slight warping or wobbling of the rotor tip path plane.
For rotor trim and performance evaluation, it is considered acceptable
engineering practice to neglect all harmonics above the first.
However, the effects of higher harmonic flapping on the vibration and aeroelastic
stability characteristics of the rotor are important.

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Review of Rotor Reference Axes
There are several physical planes that can be used to describe the equations of
motion of the rotor blades.
These reference planes or axes systems have evolved as a matter of
convenience, and each has advantages over others for certain types of
analysis.
It is always possible to transform an analysis from one reference axis to
another, as required.

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Rotor reference axes I
1 Hub plane (plano central): The rotor hub plane is perpendicular to the rotor
shaft. In the HP, an observer would see both blade flapping and feathering
(pitch changes) during forward flight. While this plane is the most complicated
for analysis of the rotor, it has the advantage of being linked to a physical part
of the aircraft. The HP is often used for blade dynamic and flight dynamic
analyses.
2 No feathering plane (NFP) (plano de paso constante): The NFP is a plane
where an observer sees no variation in cyclic pitch, that is both θ1c and θ1s are
zero. However, the observer will still see a cyclic variation in blade flapping
angle. Normally, this plane is used for performance analyses.
3 Tip path plane (TPP): This is the plane whose boundary is described by the
blade tips. Therefore, an observer will see no variation in flapping, that is, both
β1c and β1s will be zero. This plane is commonly used for aerodynamic
analyses, such as rotor inflow or other wake models.

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Rotor reference axes II
4 Control plane (CP): This plane represents the commanded cyclic pitch plane
and is sometimes known as the swashplate plane.

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Equivalence flapping and feathering

β1c + θ1s = constant = (β1c )NFP = (θ1s )TPP (10)

β1s − θ1c = constant = (β1s )NFP = −(θ1c )TPP (11)
(α)TPP = (α)NFP − (β1c + θ1s ) (12)

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Lagging motion

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Rotor control
The value of pitch angle would be different if a different reference plane were used.
In any flight condition, there is always one plane relative to which the blade pitch
remains constant with azimuth. This by definition is the plane of the swashplate,
which is therefore known as the control plane or, referring to the elimination of cyclic
pitch variation, the no-feathering plane (NFP). The no-feathering plane, though not
fixed in the aircraft, is a useful adjustable datum for the measurement of
aerodynamic characteristics considered in the next chapter.

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Pitch angle control
The physical design of a swashplate system only permits once per revolution
changes in the pitch angle so only the constant and first harmonic terms are
normally required:
θ = θ0 − θ1c cos ψ − θ1s sin ψ (13)
where:
The constant term θ0 represents the collective pitch
The terms in ψ represent the cyclic pitch:
The factor θ1c ,which applies maximum pitch when the blades are at 0 and 180deg
is referred to as the lateral cyclic coefficient because the rotor response, phased
90deg, produced a control effect in the lateral sense
The factor θ1s is the longitudinal cyclic coefficient

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NFP plane I
The value of pitch angle would be
different if a difference reference
plane were used. In any flight
condition, there is always one plane
relative to which the blade pitch
remains constant with azimuth.
While in general no two of these
planes coincide, there are special
cases.
For a flapping rotor with no cyclic If there is no pitch-flap coupling or other
pitch control (such as the tail rotor pitch sources, then the control plane and
and some autogyros), the hub plane non feathering plane coincide as well.
and control plane are equivalent. For a feathering rotor with no flapping
the HP and TPP plane are equivalent.
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Blade Sailing
The flapping behavior of a rotor blade is governed principally by the balance
between the aerodynamic lift and the centrifugal force moments about the
flapping hinge.
These are both dependent on the square of the rotor speed and so, under
atmospherically still conditions, the balance is preserved at any rotor speed.
However, when operating in high wind conditions, such as on a ship, the
balance can be upset.
During any helicopter sortie, the rotor must be spun up to speed from rest
(engagement) and slowed to a halt (disengagement)
At the low-speed ends of these sequences the centrifugal moment is of a small
magnitude but the aerodynamic moment can be enhanced by the adverse wind
conditions and the blade can experience excessive flapping angles. This is known
as blade sailing.

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Blade Sailing examples

Figure: Examples of blade sailing

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Laggin Motion
As already described, the helicopter rotor must attain a trimmed condition in forward
flight. The disparity between the advancing and retreating sides of the disc is
handled by the inclusion of flapping hinges on the rotor hub. Flapping motion
introduces a phenomenon associated with a rotating system – that is, the rotor hub.
This is the Coriolis acceleration.

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Coriolis acceleration
The radial velocity increases as the distance from the disc center increases, so any
point moving along the radial line (and remaining on that line) must acquire this
increasing tangential velocity as it moves outwards from the disc center.
If the movement is radially inwards towards the disc center, this tangential
velocity must decrease.
We therefore have the situation where a rotating system causes a radial
movement to acquire a velocity in a tangential direction which changes in
magnitude – that is, an acceleration.
This is the principle of the Coriolis acceleration.
Now, such acceleration will require the application of an appropriate force in the
tangential direction.
In many circumstances, such a force is not present and so the motion cannot
remain on the line. In fact, it will drift off in the opposite direction.

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Origin
The rotation of the blade about the flapping hinge gives any point of the blade a
motion which is radially inwards and outwards, depending on the blade position and
its flapping motion. In fact, an analysis of this situation shows that the Coriolis effect
is proportional to the product of the flapping angle and the flapping rate, that is:
Coriolis ∝ ββ̇ (14)

The normal condition for a rotor is with the rotor in a coned position upon which
flapping oscillations are superimposed. This means that the Coriolis effect will
be more pronounced for a rotor with a high coning angle.
It can now be seen that the flapping motion of a rotor blade generates a
distribution of Coriolis forces on the blade, along its length, which combine to
give an overall moment about an axis parallel to the rotor shaft.
This will place a vibratory moment on the rotor hub structure, which must be
avoided. This can be achieved by allowing the blade to rotate in the rotor plane
itself by installing a suitable hinge mechanism.
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Lag frequency I
The blade lag motion is under the influence of centrifugal force – not unlike blade
flapping motion; however, the moment arms of these two degrees of freedom are
very different.

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Lag frequency II
Since the restoring moment arm is considerably smaller for lag motion compared
with flap, it is the case that the natural lag frequency is smaller than the flapping
frequency for the same hinge offset from the main rotor shaft. The two frequencies
(normalized on the rotor speed) are:
r
3e
λβ = 1 + (15)
2
r
3e
λζ = (16)
2
in which e is the hinge offset normalized on the rotor radius.
1 The first point to note is that the flapping frequency is always greater than unity
with a zero offset giving exactly unity.
2 This allows for a zero flapping hinge offset as seen with a teetering rotor.

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Lag frequency III
3 However, the lag frequency is below unity and equals zero for a zero hinge
offset. There must always be an offset for the lag hinge otherwise the rotor will
not turn with the shaft.
4 The fact that the lag frequency is less than unity opens the possibility of the
helicopter suffering from a phenomenon called ground resonance.

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References I
[1] Cuerva, A. et al.
Teoría de Helicopteros.
Gaceta.
[2] Seddon, J; Newman, S.
Basic Helicopter Aerodynamics.
Wiley, 2011.
[3] Leishman, J.G.
Principles of helicopter aerodynamics.
Cambridge University Press, 2006.

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