Rotorcrafts

Hernán Amaya BEng. MSc. PhD.

Presentation Overview

• Momentum Theory - Hover.

Helicopters Aerodynamics

There are four forces involved:

• Thrust (engines, main rotor).
• Lift (wings, blades).
• Drag (air resistance).
• Weight (gravity).

Thrust:
• Fix wing: produced by engines, propeller engines, jet engines,
turbofan.
• Rotorcraft: produced by the aerodynamic lift forces created on
the spinning blades. 1
Helicopters Aerodynamics
Lift: there are two principles,
• Bernoullis principle, faster airflow - lower pressure.
• Newton's third law, every action has an opposite reaction.
Drag: is the air resistance and there are two types:
• Parasite drag, (profile drag, zero-lift drag coefficient), skin friction drag.
•Cdo (for fix wing and rotorcraft) = the faster you go, more air
resistance.
• Induced drag, wing and blade drag due to the lift development.
•Cdi (for fix wing) = the faster you go, greater AoA, more air
resistance.
•Cdi (for rotorcraft) = the faster you go, greater AoA, more air
resistance only on the retreating side of the disk. 2
Helicopters Aerodynamics

Rotor blade drag, Flightliteracy webpage 3

Helicopters Aerodynamics
Weight:
• Gravity's force on a plane downwards, counteracted by lift.
• When weight > lift, the aircraft descents.
• When weight < lift, the aircraft climbs.

H 160 Helicopter, airbus webpage 4

Hovering theory
Momentum Theory:
• Rankine 1865, Marine Propeller.
• Froude 1885, some modifications were added.
• Katz 1920, some rotational effects and swirl effects were considered

Conservation laws:
• Conservation of mass.
• Conservation of momentum.
• Conservation of energy.

5
*Leishman J. G., (2006). Principles of Helicopter Aerodynamics. Cambridge University Press.
Hovering theory
Conditions:
• Rotor acts as an actuator disk (supports pressure difference, flow velocity
is continuous).
• Details of blade, operating conditions not considered (only rotor diameter).
• Uniform inflow (normal velocity).
• Minimum induced power loss.

w = far wake or vena contracta velocity.

𝑣𝑖 = Inflow or induced velocity.
𝐴 = 𝜋𝑅2 Rotor disk area

6
*Leishman J. G., (2006). Principles of Helicopter Aerodynamics. Cambridge University Press.
Hovering theory
𝑚ሶ = 𝜌𝐴𝑣𝑖 Mass flow rate.
𝑇 = 𝑚𝑤ሶ Momentum conservation.
𝑇 = 𝜌𝐴𝑣𝑖 𝑤
1
𝑇𝑣𝑖 = 𝜌𝐴𝑣𝑖 𝑤 2 Energy conservation.
2
𝑤 = 2𝑣𝑖 (far wake is twice the velocity at the rotor).

Thus,
𝑇 = 2𝜌𝐴𝑣𝑖2 Thrust.
𝑃𝑖 = 𝑇𝑣𝑖 Induced Power
(power required to lift the helicopter).
𝑇
𝑃𝑖 = 𝑇 T=Helicopter Weight
2𝜌𝐴
7
*Leishman J. G., (2006). Principles of Helicopter Aerodynamics. Cambridge University Press.
Hovering theory
Rotor disk area ↓ , induced velocity ↑ .
Rotor disk area ↑ , induced power ↓.
Induced velocity ↓ , induced power ↓
𝑇
𝑃𝑖 = 𝑇 2𝜌𝐴

𝑇
𝑣𝑖 = Induced velocity.
2𝜌𝐴

𝑃𝑖
= 𝑣𝑖
𝑇

What happen if the density is affected?

8
*Leishman J. G., (2006). Principles of Helicopter Aerodynamics. Cambridge University Press.
Hovering theory

Disk Loading (for helicopter rotors):

𝑇
≈ 100 𝑡𝑜 500 𝑁/𝑚2 (best hover performance)
𝐴 𝑇
Thus, inflow: ≈ 2500 𝑁/𝑚2
𝐴
𝑣𝑖 ≈ 6.4 𝑡𝑜 14.3 𝑚/𝑠

Propeller configuration, wikipedia webpage

𝑇
≈ 50000 𝑁/𝑚2
𝐴
Ducted fan configuration, defensedaily webpage

𝑇 Swivel VTOL jet configuration, ebay webpage

≈ 5000 𝑡𝑜 25000 𝑁/𝑚2
𝐴 9
Hovering theory
Non dimensional quantities:
𝑣
λ = Ω𝑅𝑖 Inflow ratio.
𝑣𝑖 = λΩ𝑅
𝑇
𝑐𝑇 = 𝜌𝜋𝑅2 Ω𝑅 2
Thrust coefficient (in the range of 0.004 to 0.006).

𝑐𝑇
λ=
2

Thrust coefficient ↑ , inflow ratio ↑ and the power ↑.

Radius ↑, the 𝑐𝑇 , inflow, power ↓.
Rotational velocity ↑, the 𝑐𝑇 ↓ and the tip velocity ↑.

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Hovering theory

Non dimensional quantities:

𝑃
𝑐𝑃 = 𝜌𝜋𝑅2 Power coefficient.
Ω𝑅 3
3/2
𝑐𝑇
𝑐𝑝 = 2

Figure of Merit (M):

𝐼𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑇𝑣𝑖
𝑀= =
𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑃𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙
𝑀 = 0.75 𝑡𝑜 0.8 efficient rotor.
𝑀 = 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑤 0.5 inefficient rotor
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Worked Examples
Determine the induced velocity and power required to support a mass of 5000
kg. Assume a rotor radius of 6.5 m and sea-level standard conditions

12
Thank You