Blade Feathering

This is the act of changing the pitch angle of the blades in flight either all at once (collective) or
individually (cyclic). This movement takes place on a feathering sleeve.

Figure 1.14: feathering axis

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Module 12.1 Theory of Flight - Rotary Wing Aerodynamics

Gyroscopic Precession
Gyroscopic precession is a phenomenon occurring in rotating bodies in which an applied
force is experienced 90 degrees later in the direction of rotation from where the force was
applied.
Although precession is not a dominant force in rotary-wing aerodynamics, it must be
reckoned with because turning rotor systems exhibit some of the characteristics of a gyro.
Figure 1.15 shows how precession affects the rotor disk when force is applied at a given
point.

Figure 1.15: Gyroscopic Precession and Phase Lag

A downward force applied to the disk at point A results in a downward change in disk attitude
at point B. And upward force applied at Point C results in an upward change in disk attitude
at point D.

This behaviour explains some of the fundamental effects occurring during various helicopter
manoeuvres. For example, the helicopter behaves differently when rolling into a right turn
than when rolling into a left turn. During roll into a left turn, the pilot will have to correct for a
nose down tendency in order to maintain altitude. This correction is required because
precession causes a nose down tendency and because the tilted disk produces less vertical
lift to counteract gravity. Conversely, during a roll into a right turn, precession will cause a
nose up tendency while the tilted disk will produce less vertical lift. Pilot input required to
maintain altitude is significantly different during a right turn than during a left turn, because
gyroscopic precession acts in opposite directions for each.

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Figure 1.16: Gyroscopic Precession as it affects a helicopter rotor

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Module 12.1 Theory of Flight - Rotary Wing Aerodynamics
The Transition and Translation
The term transition is usually used to describe the period when the aircraft is moving from the
hover to translational flight. In practice the aircraft will be in transitional flight whenever it is
changing from one steady flight condition to another, i.e. accelerating or decelerating.

Translational Flight is horizontal movement of the aircraft irrespective of heading. It is a

condition of steady state flight where thrust equals drag.

The speed achieved is dependent upon how much the rotor disc is tilted.

Control of Translational Flight

It has been shown that it is necessary to tilt the rotor disc to achieve translational flight; it is
done by the use of the cyclic control.

The cyclic control causes the rotor blades to change pitch individually during their cycle of
rotation, and as movement of the cyclic stick is instinctive, pushing the cyclic stick forward will
cause the aircraft to fly forward.

When the cyclic stick is pushed forward, the pitch angle (and hence angle of attack) of the
blade at the rear of the helicopter is increased, and it therefore flaps up. The rotor disc is
therefore tilted forwards and the transitional flight begins.

Due to the gyroscopic effect of Precession it will be shown that the above paragraph is
strictly incorrect, in that for the blade at the rear of the aircraft to flap up, the point of greatest
pitch angle must be 90 degrees before and not "at" the point of actual flap-up.

Figure 1.17: Phase lag

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When a gyroscope is spinning, if any attempt is made to change its plane of rotation, for
example by pushing it with a finger, it will immediately tilt at right angles to the direction of
push. This phenomenon is known as gyroscopic precession.

With a rotor that flaps about a central gimbal (semi-rigid) and pivoted at the geometric centre
of the rotor, the rotor will precess in a similar manner whenever a cyclic pitch change is made.
In other words, any force applied to the rotor disc in an attempt to tilt it will result
in the rotor disc tilting at 90 degrees to the force.

In a helicopter this force is in the form of a variation to the cyclic pitch of the blades. This
means that the cyclic controls must be so arranged that the points of maximum and
minimum cyclic pitches are rotationally 90 degrees in advance of the maximum and
minimum flap positions respectfully.

This will now ensure that the helicopter flies in the same direction that the cyclic control stick is
placed.

With a helicopter using a Fully Articulated Rotor Head, where the blades are mounted on
flapping hinges offset from the centre of the disc, the gyroscopic effect is slightly reduced.
The actual amount of phase lag in this case depends on how far from the centre of rotation
the flapping hinges are positioned, but is usually between 80 and 90 degrees.

Figure 1.18: Fully articulated and Semi-rigid rotor system

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Module 12.1 Theory of Flight - Rotary Wing Aerodynamics
This is the term used to describe the angle that the pitch change push-pull rod is in advance of
the feathering axis of the blade.

From the diagrams that follow, note that there are three input servos;

• left lateral input servo

• right lateral input servo
• fore and aft input servo

Each one is at a control advance angle ahead of the blade it is connected to.

Figure 1.19. Control inputs

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Module 12.1 Theory of Flight - Rotary Wing Aerodynamics
Blade Dragging
This is the term used to describe the movement of the blades in the horizontal plane (drag
hinge). Movement is caused by three main factors;

• Hooke’s Joint Effect

• Coriolis Effect
• The varying drag forces

Hooke's Joint Effect

With a fully articulated rotor head, although the rotor head is 'articulated' it is not a
constant velocity joint. When the rotor disc is tilted forward the centre of the tip path plane
is forward of the centre line of the main rotor shaft, therefore to complete the movement in
the same unit of time the advancing blade must move forward on the drag hinge and the
retreating blade lag behind the drag hinge.

Figure 1.20: Hooke’s Joint effect

Coriolis Effect
Coriolis was a French mathematician who researched the effect that if the mass of o rotating
object is moved to a greater radius, the rotating object will slow down, and vice versa. This
can be seen in everyday life, for example, a child playing on a playground roundabout finds
that if he/she leans outwards, the roundabout will slow down, or an ice figure-skater
increases the rate of spin by slowly bringing the arms into the chest.

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Module 12.1 Theory of Flight - Rotary Wing Aerodynamics

This phenomenon can be analyzed mathematically and applied to a helicopter rotor system as
shown in Figure 1.21.

Figure 1.21: Coriolis Effect

k = Radius of gyration (the radius at which the whole mass of the blade can be
considered to act
ω (omega) = Rotational speed

When a cyclic pitch change is made, the blade which is flapping up at the rear of the disc has
its mass moved closer to the centre of the disc and will experience an increase in angular
velocity. since the momentum of the blade cannot change.

The blade that is flapping down at the front of the blade has its mass moved further away
from the centre of rotation and will experience a decrease in momentum.

tn the cyclically tilted rotor, Coriolis forces cause the blades to "hunt" backwards and
forwards. If the Coriolis forces and Hooke's Joint Effect are combined in a fully articulated
main rotor head, the effect is as shown in the Figure 1.21.

Coriolis force is at its maximum during transition and this is the main reason why vibration is a
maximum during transition.

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Figure 1.22: Pitch changes during translational flight

Varying Drag Forces

These are due to such forces as acceleration and deceleration of the rotational speed of the
rotor, or shock forces if the helicopter lands one wheel first (see also "Ground Resonance").
These forces are kept in check by Drag Dampers, which will be explained later.

Summary
A fully articulated rotor head has freedom of movement in 3 axis;

• Pitch angle change - Feathering

• Vertical movement - Flapping
• Horizontal movement - Dragging

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Module 12.1 Theory of Flight - Rotary Wing Aerodynamics

Torque Reaction

Introduction
Newton's Third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite
reaction. Applied to the helicopter, when the engine is driving the main rotor, there is a
tendency for the fuselage to be turned in the opposite direction to the main rotor.

The Tail Rotor

The most common method of counteracting torque reaction is the use of a tail rotor.

Figure 1.23: Tail rotor

Depending on which side the tail rotor is mounted, it can be a pusher or a putter, but for tail
cone strength reasons the tail rotor is usually a pusher so that the force acts through the tail
cone.

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Heading Control by Tail Rotor
By connecting the tail rotor pitch changing mechanism to foot pedals in the pilots Gockpit we
give the pilot means of heading control, as well as counteracting the torque of the motor.

The rudder pedals are constructed so that pushing the starboard foot pedal will reduce the pitch
of the tail rotor blades. This will reduce the torque reaction compensation and the torque
reaction will turn the helicopter to starboard.

Pushing the port pedal will increase the blade pitch and the tail rotor useful force will overcome
torque reaction to turn the helicopter to port.

Since the power absorbed by the tail rotor will vary with change in tail rotor pitch, there will be a
corresponding change in main rotor RPM which must be adjusted with the collective lever or the
throttle grip.

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Tail Rotor Drift
Torque reaction is a Couple, this is two equal and opposite parallel forces which tend to
produce a rotation.

The force produced by the tail rotor is a moment, i.e. a single force at some distance from the
centre of the torque reaction couple.

A couple can never be balanced by a moment, and the net result is a drift sideways as shown in
the Figure 1.24.

Figure 1.24: Cause of Tail Rotor drift

Overcoming Tail Rotor Drift

Tail rotor drift is overcome by rigging the cyclic control system so the main rotor tip path plane is
biased sideways to provide a force opposite to the tail rotor drift.

Obviously, as power is increased, the tail rotor drift force is increased and this counteracting
cyclic biasing must be automatically increased.

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Tail Rotor Tilt Effect
Viewed from the front, if the tail rotor is higher or lower than the main rotor head for any reason
(helicopter geometry or flight attitude) a couple will be set up and the helicopter will tilt as shown
in Figure 1.25.

Figure 1.25: Tait Rotor tilt effect

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Centrifugal Turning Moment (CTM)
If we imagine a single rotor blade rotating about its axis, and if a pitch angle is set such that
some of the mass of the blade is above the plane of rotation by a distance X and some below
the plane of rotation also by a distance X then the centrifugal force due to that mass acts
radially outwards from the rotational axis as shown (it does not however act from the point of
attachment of the blade to the shaft as is commonly believed, but some point on the rotational
axis a distance equal to the height raised by the mass (X) due to the pitch change).

We can now resolve the centrifugal force into two components AD and AC, both in the
horizontal plane. Force AC tries to pull the blade radially, but force AD tries to turn the blade
back to a zero pitch angle. Force AD is known as Centrifugal Turning Moment, or
Centrifugal Twisting Moment (CTM).

Figure 1.26: Centrifugal Turning Moment

CTM is increased if the pitch angle is increased or if the blade chord is increased - since the
distance of the mass from the plane XZ (and hence the moment of force AD) is increased.

Compensation for CTM by Counterweights

To remove the load of CTM from the pilot, the tail rotor blades are fitted with counter weights, on
the opposite side of the plane of rotation to the mass of the blade.

Although main rotors do not suffer from CTM as much as tail rotors, because of their high
aspect ratio, they too are sometimes fitted with counterweights, which are called pitch change
compensators.

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Other Methods of Counteracting Torque Reaction

Multiple Rotors - Contra-rotating

Any helicopter design which employs multiple rotors, does not need a tail rotor, since the rotors
are configured to turn in opposite directions, which cancels the torque effect.

Figure 1.27: Multiple Rotors

Bleed Air System
The NOTAR (No Tail Rotor) system uses engine bleed air and the Coanda Effect, to counter
torque reaction.

Figure 1.28: Notar bleed air system

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Module 12.1 Theory of Flight - Rotary Wing Aerodynamics

Dissymmetry of Lift

The Cause
In still air conditions and the aircraft hovering, the airflow over the blades is due solely to the
rotation of the rotor blades. Each rotor blade experiences the same amount of lift at the same
spanwise positions.

As soon as the helicopter achieves forward flight, a problem arises due to an extra airflow over
the blades.

The blade in the advancing sector experiences an increased airflow, and the blade in the
retreating section experiences a decrease in airflow.

Figure 1.29: Dissymmetry of lift

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Compensation for Dissymmetry of Lift
The aircraft would turn on its side if this were not compensated for by some method. It is
compensated for by a combination of two methods;
Module 12.1 Theory of Flight - Rotary Wing Aerodynamics
1 A reduction in pitch angle on the advancing blade, and an increase in pitch angle
on the retreating blade. Fortunately, this reduction and increase in pitch angle are
present already due to the requirement to produce a force to tilt the tip path plane
forward and produce forward motion in the first place.

Any further reduction or increase in pitch angle at these positions in an attempt to

compensate for dissymmetry of lift would amount to an extra cyclic input, thus increasing
the aircraft forward velocity and restoring the dissymmetry of lift.

2 Compensation by Flapping
To understand Compensation by Flapping (sometimes called Flapping to Equality) the
following exorcise on airflow vector should be done;

Consider a two bladed rotor turning anti-clockwise when viewed from above.

Figure 1.30: Blade angle of attack variation

It can be seen then, that if the advancing blade is allowed to flap-up due to its increased lift, it
will experience a down flow of air which will reduce its angle of attack and lift.

Similarly, if the retreating blade is allowed to flap down due to loss of lift, it will experience an
up-flow of air and thus an increase in angle of attack and lift.

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