COMPUTER AIDED HELICOPTER DESIGN

This paper describes the formulation of the HElicopter Sizing and Performance COMputer Program (HESCOMP) which is used as an analytical tool in the preliminary design process. The program integrates aircraft configuration sizing, performance aerodynamics and weights into a multidisciplinary rotary wing design tool which is idealy suited to rapidly perform comparative configuration design studies. To illustrate the HESCOMP capabilities, the program was used in the conceptual design study of an advanced military transport for introduction in the late 1980's. The purpose of this study was to compare on an equal basis the size and performance of a single and tandem rotor helicopter designed for a typical long range military transport mission. When designed for equal spotting factor (minimum folded size) and compared on the basis of gross weight the tandem rotor helicopter is approximately 4% lighter.