The Art of the Helicopter John Watkinson - Karatunov.net
The Art of the Helicopter John Watkinson - Karatunov.net
The Art of the Helicopter John Watkinson - Karatunov.net
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144 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Art</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Helicopter</strong><br />
Fig. 4.24 When a blade drags, <strong>the</strong> CM moves closer to <strong>the</strong> rotor axis. In rotating co-ordinates, centrifugal<br />
force creates a restoring moment proportional to deflection such that <strong>the</strong> blade has a resonant response to<br />
excitation in dragging. Unlike flapping, <strong>the</strong> aerodynamic damping is low.<br />
to reduce stress. In o<strong>the</strong>r designs, <strong>the</strong> rotor is designed to be extremely stiff, but as<br />
stiffness is always finite, <strong>the</strong>re will still be some dragging motion. In all cases <strong>the</strong><br />
dynamics <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> system must be considered in order to avoid resonances.<br />
In a traditional articulated rotor head, <strong>the</strong> dragging hinge cannot apply a restoring<br />
moment to <strong>the</strong> blade. <strong>The</strong> only restoring force for dragging motion in this case is due to<br />
rotation. Figure 4.24 shows that when a blade drags on a hinge having an <strong>of</strong>fset from<br />
<strong>the</strong> rotor axis, <strong>the</strong> CM <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> blade moves closer to that axis. When <strong>the</strong> rotor is turning,<br />
<strong>the</strong> CM will tend to be at <strong>the</strong> greatest possible radius and so if <strong>the</strong> blade drags forward<br />
or back, <strong>the</strong>re will be a restoring force. Figure 4.24 is drawn in a rotating frame <strong>of</strong><br />
reference in order to arrest <strong>the</strong> rotation. <strong>The</strong> acceleration <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> blade is now zero and<br />
has been replaced by an equivalent centrifugal force. It will be seen that <strong>the</strong> centrifugal<br />
force, which must pass through <strong>the</strong> rotor axis, creates a small moment due to <strong>the</strong> drag<br />
hinge <strong>of</strong>fset.<br />
<strong>The</strong> restoring moment is proportional to <strong>the</strong> deflection and <strong>the</strong> result is that a blade<br />
which suffers an in-plane disturbance will tend to execute simple harmonic motion at its<br />
resonant frequency. In an articulated rotor, resonant frequency is proportional to <strong>the</strong><br />
square root <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> stiffness. <strong>The</strong> stiffness is due to centrifugal force and is proportional<br />
to <strong>the</strong> square <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> RRPM. Thus <strong>the</strong> dragging resonant frequency will be proportional<br />
to RRPM as was <strong>the</strong> case for articulated flapping. However, unlike flapping, <strong>the</strong> only<br />
aerodynamic damping available to <strong>the</strong> dragging motion is due to changes <strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>ile<br />
drag. Damping will <strong>of</strong>ten need to be augmented by mechanical means.<br />
In hingeless rotors <strong>the</strong>re will be some degree <strong>of</strong> structural stiffness that will provide a<br />
restoring force for <strong>the</strong> blade even when <strong>the</strong> rotor is not turning. <strong>The</strong> dragging resonant<br />
behaviour <strong>of</strong> a rotor can be characterized by <strong>the</strong> Southwell coefficients. Figure 4.25<br />
shows how <strong>the</strong> ratio <strong>of</strong> dragging resonant frequency to rotor frequency is determined<br />
by K1and K2. K1reflects <strong>the</strong> resonant frequency when <strong>the</strong> rotor is not turning, as<br />
determined by <strong>the</strong> blade inertia and <strong>the</strong> stiffness <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> rotor/head system in <strong>the</strong> dragging<br />
plane and is called <strong>the</strong> structural stiffening component. For an articulated head, K1<br />
is zero because <strong>the</strong> dragging hinge has no stiffness. K2 is determined by <strong>the</strong> effective<br />
or actual dragging hinge <strong>of</strong>fset and represents what is usually called <strong>the</strong> centrifugal<br />
stiffening component.<br />
Figure 4.25(a) shows that in <strong>the</strong> articulated rotor, <strong>the</strong> hinge <strong>of</strong>fset and consequent<br />
restoring forces are generally small and so <strong>the</strong> dragging resonant frequency is a small<br />
proportion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> rotor frequency, typically between 20 and 30%.<br />
In a hingeless rotor, shown in Figure 4.25(b), at low RRPM <strong>the</strong> structural stiffness<br />
will dominate, whereas at high RRPM rotational forces dominate and <strong>the</strong> dragging