V ol. 15 No.

1 CHIN ESE JO U RN AL OF AERO N AU T ICS February 2002

Analytical Model of Elastomeric Lag Damper Kinematic

Coupling and Its Effect on Helicopter Air Resonance in Hover

HU Guo cai, XIANG Jin wu, ZHANG Xiao gu

( I nstit ute of A ir craf t Design, Beij ing Univ . of A ero . and A st ro. , Beij i ng 100083, China)

Abstract: For an elastomeric lag damper with nonlinear proper ties and kinematic couplings, its differ
ential equation about equilibrium posit ion w as der ived in a r otat ing frame. T he equation w as then tr ans
formed into a non rotating frame by multi blade transfo rmat ion and incor porated into the rotor / airframe
differ ential equations fo r eigen analysis. T he effects of damper steady displacement and kinematic cou
plings on helicopter air r esonance in hover w er e analyzed. T he results demonstrat e that t he elastomeric
damper can increase helicopter dynamic stability ; however, its available damping w ill decr ease as its
steady displacement increased. For the no tional rotor system, the damper steady displacement w ill de
crease w hen kinematic coupling s are intr oduced, and hence the regressiv e lag modal damping can be in
creased.
Key words: helicopter dy namics; elastomeric lag damper; kinematic coupling; nonlinear proper ty; air
r esonance
粘弹减摆器几何耦合模型及对直升机悬停空中共振的影响 胡国才, 向锦武, 张晓谷 中国航空
学报( 英文版) , 2002, 15( 1) : 27- 32
摘 要: 针对具有几何耦合的非线性 粘弹减 摆器, 在旋转 坐标系 下建立 了其在 平衡位置 附近的 小
扰动微分方程, 然后通过多桨叶坐标 转换的 方法将 方程变换 到不转 坐标系 中, 并与直升 机悬停 时
的线化小 扰动方程结合起来进行特征值分析; 减摆器静态位移 和几何耦 合对直升机 空中共振 稳定
性的影响进行了分 析。结果 表明, 粘 弹减摆 器会提 高直升机 空中共 振稳定 性; 增 大减摆 器的静 态
位移会降低其有效阻尼; 对于所考虑的旋翼系统来说 , 几何耦合可 能会减小 减摆器的静 态位移, 从
而提高摆振后通型模态的阻尼。
关键词: 直升机动力学; 粘弹减摆器; 几何耦合; 非线性特性; 空中共振
文章编号: 1000 9361( 2002) 01 0027 06 中图分类号: V212. 4; V 214. 4+ 2 文献标识码: A

T he helicopter rotor is generally installed w ith
a blade lag damper t o prevent helicopter air and
g round resonance. T he elastomeric lag damper has
a lot of advantages, such as sim plif ying rotor hub
conf igurat ions and improving system reliabilit ies
and maintenance. T herefore, it has been used in
[ 1, 2]
some advanced rotor syst ems . t ion w hich arises f rom blade flapping ( its frequency
[ 3]
Ex perimental results have shown t hat t he
mechanical propert ies of elastomeric m at erials are
nonlinear f unctions of loading paramet ers such as
frequencies and amplitudes. F urt hermore, if super
imposed oscillat ion ex ist s, t he storag e modulus
( st if fness) and t he loss modulus ( damping) of elas
t omeric dampers w ill be reduced sig nificant ly [ 2, 3] .
Blade lead lag motion includes component s w ith
multiple frequencies. T w o of t he component s play
import ant roles: one is t he transient oscillat ion
wit h t he blade natural lead lag frequency, and t he
ot her is t he forced vibrat ion due to Coriolis act ua
equals blade rotating frequency mult iplied by a pos
it ive integer ) . Obv iously, if a rotor or helicopter
dynamic stabilit y analysis is perf ormed wit h prop
erties obt ained from a single frequency bench t est,
the modal damping of such a system m ay be over
predict ed.

R eceived dat e: 2001 06 25; R evision received dat e: 2001 10 11

A rticle U R L: htt p: / / w ww . hkxb. net . cn/ cja/ 2002/ 01/ 0027/

© 1994-2010 China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. http://www.cnki.net
 ∀ 28 ∀ H U G uo cai, X IAN G Jin wu, ZHA N G Xiao gu CJA

Helicopt er dynamic analysis is dif ficult because lag kinemat ic coupling w ill produce addit ional
of t he nonlinear properties of the elastomeric damper axial displacement and velocit y.
damper int roduced. On t he basis of bench test da Both ends of the elast omeric damper ( b , c)
t a, Gandhi and Chopra present ed, phenomenolog are hinged, so t he damper is act uated axially and
ically, a one dimensional nonlinear model of the e the elast omeric element of the dam per underg oes
last omeric damper undergoing pure shearing pure shearing st rain. T hus a one dimensional non
[ 4, 5]
st ress . In t erms of such a model, the aut hors linear model can be used t o reflect t he damper dy
st udied t he ef fect of nonlinear propert ies of t he e namic behavior. As described above, Gandhi and
last omeric damper on helicopt er dynam ic st ability. Chopra presented a one dimensional nonlinear mod
Edw ard C. Smith, et al . have developed a t ime el of the elastomeric damper [ 4] . T he model is com
domain finit e element model ( one dimension) of e posed of a linear Kelvin chain and nonlinear spring
last omeric dampers on t he basis of Anelast ic Dis S ( show n in Fig. 2) and it can charact erize t he
placement Fields ( ADF ) [ 6] and studied the aeroe nonlinear behavior of elastomeric material.
last ic response and stabilit y of helicopt er rotor sys
[ 7]
t ems . T hose invest igat ions revealed t hat both
st eady and dynamic displacement of the damper
could decrease its eff icient damping. T he ef fect of
it s nonlinear propert ies on helicopter dynamics
could not be neg lected.
A phenomenon of kinemat ic couplings of blade
lag dampers has been not iced in recent years[ 8] .
Analysis of equivalent linear damping for a nonlin F ig. 1 Elastomeric damper and rotor blade

ear hydraulic damper has demonst rated t hat pit ch/

flap/ lag kinematic coupling would increase t he
magnitude of t he damper axial velocity , and hence
decrease its equivalent linear damping significant
[ 9]
ly . Similarly, serious superimposed oscillat ions
may also exist in elastomeric dampers w hen kine
Fig . 2 Nonlinear model of an elastomeric damper
mat ic couplings are introduced; how ever, their ef
f ect s on helicopter and rotor dynamic instabilit ies Assume that t he damper ax ial displacem ent is
have not been analyzed ent irely . T he purpose of represent ed by q, and t he linear st if fness and
this work is t o develop a kinemat ic model of elas damping coeff icients of t he Kelvin chain are repre
t omeric dampers incorporated in t he rotor/ airf rame sent ed by K and C , respect ively. T he force/ dis
coupled system t o st udy the ef fect of such a model placement behavior of the spring S is described by

on helicopter air resonance in hover. the nonlinear relations

q1 = f ( p ) = c 1 p + c 2 p 2 + c 3 p 3 + c 4 p 4
1 Analytical Model (p 0)
2 3 4
H ing es and elastomeric dam per att achment s q1 = f ( p ) = c 1 p - c 2 p + c 3 p - c 4 p
are show n as F ig. 1. O h is t he center of rotat ion; ( p ! 0) ( 1)
points b and c are global hinges; point s e and f where q 1 is the axial displacement in t he spring S ;
are lead lag and f lap hinges respect ively. Point p p is t he damper force; ci ( i = 14) are coeff icient s
represents pit ch bearing. All t hree hinges are posi to be determ ined. T he damper nonlinear differen
t ioned bet w een tw o dam per horns so t hat, when t ial equat ion can be expressed as follow s
blade displacements about hinges exist, pit ch/ flap/ df
Cq + K q = C + Kf ( p ) + p ( 2)
dp
© 1994-2010 China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. http://www.cnki.net
 A nalyt ical M odel of Elast omeric Lag Dam per K inemat ic
February 2002
Coupling and its Eff ect on Helicopt er ∀ 29 ∀

Fourier coeff icient s q c and q s of t he response !q !q

where R = ! , R = ! .
of Eq. ( 2) to a harmonic ex citation can be obtained 0
, 0
, 0 0
, 0
, 0

analyt ically. Assume t hat G # and G ∃ are, respec T he damper ax ial velocit y can be ex pressed as
∀
t ively, st orage modulus and loss modulus of the e q= R! + R! ( 8)
last omeric damper. T hen Subst itute Eqs. ( 7) and ( 8) int o Eq. ( 2) ( !
p 0 | qs |
# dropped for brevit y ) . Consequently, t he dynamic
G =
( q 2c + q 2s ) equation of t he elast omeric damper can be w ritt en
( 3)
p 0 | qc |
∃ as
G =
( q 2c + q 2s ) ∀
2CR - CR - C df p + KR -
Along w it h the experimental dat a G #exp and dp q
0

G∃exp obt ained, minimization of a f unct ion, % |

KR - 1+ K
df
p = 0 ( 9)
#
(G - G#exp ) 2 + (G - ∃
G ∃exp ) 2 | , t hat est im at es t he dp q0

error sum at several diff erent amplitudes of ex cita

t ion, p 0, yields numerical values f or t he system co
2 Rotor Damper Fuselage
eff icients.
Dynam ic Equation
Assume t hat t he lag hinge coincides w ith t he
flap hing e, and that , and represent blade A simplified rot or st ruct ural model and quasi
lead lag , flap and pit ch angles respect ively. Based steady aerodynamics were assumed in Ref. [ 10] ,
on t he relations of F ig. 1 and t he different ial equations about t he steady equi
0
q = | r bc | - | r bc | ( 4) librium condition are derived based on t he complex
0 coordinat e adopt ed. For the isotropic case, t he e
w here | r bc | is t he damper initial leng th and | r bc|
is the dam per lengt h at any moment. quat ions in mat rix f orms are
x
r bc = r ac - r ab = r acih + ( r ac + R ab ) j h + r ac
y z M1 &
x + C1 x + K 1 x = 0 ( 10)

( 5) where x = { ∀} , T
= c+ i s, = c+

w here r xac, r yac and r zac , respect ively , can be de i s, ∀= ∀c + i ∀s, and ∀ represents t he fuselage
rived as freedom; M 1 , C 1 and K 1 represent complex mass,
x
r ac = R ae + R ed cos cos + damping and st if fness matrices respect ively.
T he force, p , is expressed by t he dif ferent ial
R cd ( sin sin cos - cos sin )
Eq. ( 9) and hence could not be ex pressed explicit
r yac = - R ed cos sin -
ly. T his paper t reat s the damper force as an inde
R cd ( sin sin sin - cos cos )
pendent st at e. In addit ion, Eq. ( 9) represents t he
r zac = R ed sin - R cd sin cos dynamic relations of t he damper in the rotat ing
( 6) frame w hile Eq. ( 10) represents rot or/ airframe dy
In order to understand t he ef fect of t he namics in the non rot at ing fram e. T he damper e
damper steady displacem ent on helicopter air reso quat ion, theref ore, needs to be transformed int o
nance, t he dy nam ic equat ion of the damper about the non rot at ing f rame and resolved in conjunct ion
the equilibrium posit ion should be derived. Assume wit h the rotor/ airframe equat ion. By mult i blade
that 0, 0 and 0, respect ively, represent collec coordinat e transformations for all dampers, t he e
t ive lead lag, flap ( coning) and collect ive pit ch an last omeric damper equat ion can be obt ained as fol
g les in hover. If bearing freedom is not taken int o lows
account, t he damper displacement funct ion, q = q Cd 1∋ 4 y + K d 1∋ 4 y = 0 ( 11)
( , , ) , can be ex pressed as where y = { ∀ ∀ p }, ∀
p = p c + i p s.
q = q( 0, 0, 0) + R ! + R ! ( 7) Not e t hat t he blade lag w ise mom ent s should

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 ∀ 30 ∀ H U G uo cai, X IAN G Jin wu, ZHA N G Xiao gu
cont ain the damping moment of t he dam per about
the lag hinge. T he f inal rot or damper fuselage dy
namic equat ion can be writt en as
[ M1 O] 3∋ 4 &
y + [ C1 O] 3∋ 4 y +
[ K1 E d ] 3∋ 4 y = 0
L et z= { ∀ ∀ ∀ p } , based
on Eqs. ( 11) and ( 12) , t he rotor/ airf rame coupled
equation can be expressed as
Az + Bz = 0
T he problem is now alternat ed into the general
eigenvalue calculation for t he complex mat rix . L et
z= z 0 e #∃ and put it int o Eq. ( 13)
( #A + B) z 0 e #∃ = 0
T he eigenvalue of Eq. ( 14) can be ex pressed
as #= %( i &. T he imaginary part of t he eigenval
ue, &, represents the modal frequency and the real
part, %, represents the modal damping. If % is
posit ive, t he motion is diverg ent ( negat ive damp
Table 1 Parameters of rotor blade and fuselage
Paramet er
N umber of blades
R ot or radius
Blade chord
N on dimensional hinge of fset
Blade inert ia about hinge
N on rotating flap f requency
N on rotating lead lag f requency
Dimensions of t he elast omeric dam per: R ab =
0. 213m, R cd = 0. 196m, R ae = 0. 178m, R ed =
0 267m.
F ig . 3 show s the modal damping of reg ressive
lag mode ( LR) and advancing lag mode ( L A) in
Fig. 3 M odal damping versus r oto r speed
( w ithout elastomer ic lag damper)
t he absence of t he elastomeric lag dam per for tw o
cases, collect ive pit ch angles 0 = 3) and 8) respec
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CJA
ing ) , ot herwise converg ent ( posit ive damping) .
3 Results and Discussion
Wit hout any elast omeric dampers, Eq. ( 10) is
( 12) applied to resolve t he eig envalues. If the elastomer
T ic damper is int roduced and kinematic couplings of
the damper exist, Eq. ( 14) would be applied to re
solve the eig envalues. When the elastomeric
( 13) damper is introduced, how ever, w ithout any kine
mat ic couplings, Eq. ( 14) w ill also be applied t o
resolve t he eigenvalues and the t erms w ith respect
to coning and collect ive pitch angles included in t he
( 14) coeff icient f ormula R and R should be deleted.
T he values of t he experimental complex modu
lus and the coef ficient s of t he elastomeric damper
are provided in Ref . [ 4] ; essent ial parameters and
values of t he rot or blade and the f uselage can be
seen in T able 1.
value Paramet er value
4 R ot or normal speed 375r/ m in
5. 67m Blade airf oil lift curve slope 5. 73
0. 2933m Blade airf oil prof ile drag coef ficient 0. 01
0. 111 Lock num ber 5
456kg∀m 2 D ist ance f rom body C. G. to rot or plane
1. 55Hz ( dimensionless by rot or radius) 0. 312
3. 51Hz R at io of h elicopt er to rot or inert ia 6. 147
t ively. As t he collective pit ch angle increased from
3) to 8), t he real part of t he eigenvalue of t he LR
mode changes from neg at ive to positive w ithin t he
range near t he normal speed. In other w ords, heli
copter dynam ic instabilit y w ill increase as t he col
lective pitch ang le increases in t he hover condit ion.
Once the elastomeric lag damper is int ro
duced, t he L R modal damping wit h respect to rot or
speed is show n in F ig . 4. It shows that the real
part of t he eigenvalue is negative for the case of 0
= 8) w ithin t he range of the rotor speed consid
ered, w hether or not the kinemat ic coupling of t he
damper ex ist s. It is clear t hat t he motion of t he LR
mode is convergent . F ig. 4 also show s t hat the st a
bility margin of t he LR mode increases due to t he
kinemat ic coupling int roduced for this notional sys
t em .
T he available damping of the elastomeric
 A nalyt ical M odel of Elast omeric Lag Dam per K inemat ic
February 2002
Coupling and its Eff ect on Helicopt er
Fig. 4 M odal damping versus r oto r speed
( elastomeric lag damper introduced)
damper is related t o its steady displacement q 0 .
T he nonlinear spring S possesses t he sof ten proper
t ies show n in Fig. 5, that is, greater q 0 , sof ter
spring S . As t he steady displacement q 0 increases,
the majorit y of the damper def orm at ion is therefore
w it hin the spring S while the minority w it hin t he
Kelvin chain. As a result, t he displacement of t he
dissipating element ( damper C, Fig. 2) is sm aller
and t he damping of t he elast omeric damper is lower
reasonably. F ig . 6 show s t hat t he LR modal damp
ing decreases as t he dam per st eady displacement q 0
increases.
Fig. 5 St iffness of nonlinear spring S versus q 0
Fig. 6 L R modal damping versus q 0
F ig . 7 shows t he damper steady displacement s
w it h respect to the rot or speed f or tw o cases of t he
© 1994-2010 China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. http://www.cnki.net
∀ 31 ∀
damper: ∗ wit hout any kinemat ic couplings, and
+ wit h kinemat ic couplings.
Wit hout any kinematic couplings, only t he
blade st eady lag angle can lead t o t he st eady dis
placement q 0 of the damper ( com pressed) and t he
magnitude of t he q 0 will increase as the rot or speed
increases. For the kinemat ic coupling of t he
damper introduced, t he equilibrium pitch and con
ing angles of the rotor can result in an addit ional
steady displacement of t he damper.
Fig . 7 Damper steady displacement versus r otor speed
As can be seen from Fig. 7, t he elastomeric
lag damper is t ensioned at low speed ( posit ive q 0 )
while compressed at high speed ( negative q 0 ) .
T his phenom enon can be easily explained. For t he
not ional rotor syst em, the kinemat ic coupling
makes the damper t ensile w hile the equilibrium lag
ang le 0 makes t he damper com pressed. When t he
rot or operates at low speed, t he lag angle 0 is
small, t herefore, t he quantit y of the damper com
pression caused by lag angle 0 is also small and t he
eff ect of the kinemat ic coupling is predom inant. As
a whole, t he damper is t ensile at low speed. As t he
rot or speed increases, t he steady lag angle 0 in
creases and its ef fect on t he dam per steady displace
ment becomes predominant. Hence, t he damper
will be compressed at hig h speed.
By comparisons of the above t wo cases ( w ith
and w it hout kinematic couplings) , the damper
steady displacement q 0 is sm aller when kinemat ic
coupling is introduced ( F ig. 7) , and the LR modal
damping w ill be greater as show n in F ig. 4. It
shows t hat the kinemat ic coupling has a f avorable
eff ect on helicopter dynamic st ability in hover for
this not ional model.
 ∀ 32 ∀ H U G uo cai, X IAN G Jin wu, ZHA N G Xiao gu
It should be point ed out that t he elastomeric
lag damper would be act uat ed by dual frequency
excit at ions in helicopter f orw ard flig ht . H ence t he
eff ect of nonlinear propert ies and kinemat ic cou
plings of t he elast omeric lag damper on helicopter
dynamic instabilit y calls for more invest ig at ions.
4 Concluding Rem arks
( 1) T he helicopter dynamic inst ability marg in
decreases as an elast omeric dam per is introduced.
( 2) T he available dam ping of the elastomeric
lag damper w ill decrease w hen the st eady displace
ment of the dam per exists, w hich characterizes t he
nonlinear behavior of t he elastomeric material.
T hus, t he eff ect of st eady displacement of t he elas
t omeric dam per should be t aken into account in t he
analysis of helicopt er air resonance.
( 3) If the elastomeric lag dam per is arranged
appropriat ely, the flap/ pit ch kinematic coupling
leads to a favorable eff ect on helicopter dy namic
st abilit y in hover.
References
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relation f or a S ikorsky f ullscale bearingless main rotor [ A ] .
In: The American Helicopter Societ y 53rd Annual Forum
[ C ] . Virginia Beach, V A, 1997. 1336 - 1349. \ =
[ 2] K rysinski T , Ferullo D. Overview of t he EC155 dynam ics
validat ion program f rom design st age up t o cert ificat ion[ A] . In: The
A merican Hel icopt er S ociety 55th Annual Forum [ C ] . M ont real
Canada, 1999.
[ 3] Felker F F, Lau B H, M cLaughlin S, et al . N onlinear be
havior of an elastomeric lag damper undergoing dual f requency
mot ion and its eff ect on rot or dynamics [ J ] . Journal of t he
A merican Helicopter Societ y, 1987, 34( 4) : 45- 53.
[ 4] G andhi F, C hopra I. A n analyt ical model f or a nonlinear elas
t omeric lag damper and its eff ect on aeromechanical st abilit y
in hover [ J ] . Journal of t he A merican Helicopt er Societ y,
1994, 41( 4) : 59- 69.
[ 5] G andhi F, Chopra I. A nalysis of bearingless main rot or dy
namics w it h t he inclusion of an improved time domain nonlin
ear elast omeric damper model [ J] . Journal of t he A merican
Helicopt er S ociety, 1996, 43( 3) : 267- 277.
[ 6] Sm it h E C, Govindsw amy K , Beale M R , et al . Formula
t ion, validat ion, and applicat ion of a f inite element model for
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[ 7] Sm it h E C, G ovindswamy K , Beale M R , et al . A eroelastic
response and st abilit y of helicopt ers w it h elastomeric lag damper[ J] .
J ournal of th e A merican Helicopt er Societ y, 1996, 43 ( 3 ) : 257 -
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[ 8] T arzanin F J, Panda B. D evelopm ent and application of non
linear elast omeric and hydraulic lag models [ R] . A IAA paper
95 1449, 1995.
[ 9] 胡国才, 向锦武, 张晓谷 具有非 线性阻 尼液压 减摆器 等
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[ C] . 上海, 2000. 427- 432
( H U G uo cai, XIAN G Jin w u, ZHA NG X iao gu. A nalysis
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Biographies:
HU Guo cai Born in October 1964, an
asso ciated professor of Aircraft Desig n at
N avy A ero nautics Eng ineering Institute,
he received a B. Sc. and an M . E. in A ir
craft Design from N anjing U niversit y of
Aeronautics and Astr onautics in 1985 and
1988. He is now a Ph. D. candidate of
Beijing U niversity of Aeronautics and Astronautics. His re
search interests include helicopter design and flight mechan
ics. He is an author of o ver 20paper s and has won 3 times
aw ard for Promotion of Science and T echnolo gy from the
state and various ministries.
XIANG Jin wu Born in A pril 1964, a
professor of A ircraft Design at Beijing U
niversity of Aeronautics and Astronau
tics, he received a B. Sc. in Aircr aft De
sign from N anjing U niversity of Aeronau
tics and Astronautics in 1984, an M . E.
in Engineering M echanics from North
w estern Polytechnical U niversity in 1990, and a Ph. D. in
A ircraft Desig n from N anjing U niversity of A ero nautics and
Astronautics in 1993. Dr . Xiang jo ined the faculty at Beijing
University of Aeronaut ics and Astronautics in 1995, where
he has been actively involved in teaching and resear ch. He
has been w orking on problems associated with aircraft design
and aeromechanics of helicopters. He is an author of over 40
papers and has won 4 times aw ar d for Promotion of Science
and T echnology fr om t he state and var ious ministr ies.
ZHANG Xiao gu Born in October
1935, a professor of Air craft Design at
Beijing University of Aeronautics and As
tronautics, he r eceived a B. Sc. and an
M . E. in Aircr aft Design from North
western Poly technical U niversity in 1956
and 1958. His research inter ests include
helicopter design and flight mechanics. He is an author of
o ver 50 papers and 5 books and has w on 5 times aw ar d for
Promotion of Science and T echnology from the state and var
ious ministries.