20.01.2013 Views

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

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

46 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Art</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Helicopter</strong><br />

Fig. 2.27 In (a) <strong>the</strong> sampling is adequate to reconstruct <strong>the</strong> original signal. In (b) <strong>the</strong> sampling rate is<br />

inadequate, and reconstruction produces <strong>the</strong> wrong waveform (dashed). Aliasing has taken place.<br />

Figure 2.26(c) shows what happens if <strong>the</strong> base bandwidth increases beyond <strong>the</strong><br />

Nyquist frequency. <strong>The</strong> lower sideband now overlaps <strong>the</strong> baseband signal. As a<br />

result, <strong>the</strong> output frequency appears to fall as <strong>the</strong> input frequency rises. This is <strong>the</strong><br />

phenomenon <strong>of</strong> aliasing. Figure 2.27 shows aliasing in <strong>the</strong> time domain. <strong>The</strong> waveform<br />

carried in <strong>the</strong> envelope <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> samples is not <strong>the</strong> original, but has a lower frequency.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re is an interesting result when <strong>the</strong> two frequencies are identical. <strong>The</strong> lower sideband<br />

frequency becomes zero. This forms <strong>the</strong> basis <strong>of</strong> Fourier analysis seen in <strong>the</strong> next<br />

section. It is also exactly what happens when a stroboscope is used, perhaps to check<br />

<strong>the</strong> tracking <strong>of</strong> a helicopter rotor. <strong>The</strong> frequency <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> flashing light (<strong>the</strong> sampling rate)<br />

is adjusted until it is <strong>the</strong> same as <strong>the</strong> rotational frequency <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> object to be studied.<br />

<strong>The</strong> lower sideband frequency becomes zero and <strong>the</strong> object appears stationary. <strong>The</strong><br />

upper sideband frequency is usually visible as flicker.<br />

Small variations in <strong>the</strong> frequency <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> strobe light above and below <strong>the</strong> rotational<br />

frequency will cause <strong>the</strong> rotating object to turn slowly forwards or backwards. <strong>The</strong> forward<br />

rotation is due to <strong>the</strong> lower sideband having a low frequency. However, when<br />

<strong>the</strong> strobe frequency is above <strong>the</strong> rotational frequency, <strong>the</strong> lower sideband frequency<br />

becomes negative, hence <strong>the</strong> illusion <strong>of</strong> reversed rotation. On a spectrum analyser, <strong>the</strong><br />

negative frequency would fold about zero Hz to become a positive frequency. This folding<br />

phenomenon is particularly important to an understanding <strong>of</strong> ground resonance<br />

that will be considered in Chapter 4.<br />

2.14 Fourier analysis<br />

Fourier was a French ma<strong>the</strong>matician who discovered that all periodic or repetitive<br />

phenomena, however complex, could be described as <strong>the</strong> sum <strong>of</strong> a number <strong>of</strong> sinusoidal<br />

phenomena. As <strong>the</strong> rotation <strong>of</strong> a helicopter rotor is periodic, <strong>the</strong>n Fourier analysis is a<br />

useful tool to study rotor motion.<br />

It was shown above that <strong>the</strong> sine wave is <strong>the</strong> waveform <strong>of</strong> a single frequency. Musically<br />

such a waveform would be called a pure tone or fundamental and <strong>the</strong> frequency would<br />

determine <strong>the</strong> pitch. If musical instruments only produced pure tones <strong>the</strong>y would be<br />

hard to tell apart. <strong>The</strong>y sound different partly because <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> presence <strong>of</strong> harmonics.<br />

Harmonics are frequencies given by multiplying <strong>the</strong> frequency <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> fundamental by a<br />

series <strong>of</strong> whole numbers. Figure 2.28 shows <strong>the</strong> waveforms <strong>of</strong> such harmonics. <strong>The</strong> final<br />

waveform is <strong>the</strong> sum <strong>of</strong> all <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> harmonics. <strong>The</strong> relative amplitude <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> different<br />

harmonics determines <strong>the</strong> tonality or timbre <strong>of</strong> an instrument. What Fourier did was<br />

to show how to measure <strong>the</strong> amplitude <strong>of</strong> each harmonic in any periodic waveform.<br />

<strong>The</strong> ma<strong>the</strong>matical process that does this is called a transform. Reversing <strong>the</strong> process

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!