Evaluation of Rotor Structural Characteristics Based On Whirl Tower Tests

Robust and reliable structural design necessitates numerous tests for rotor blades and rotor heads. The only way to be sure regarding analysis methods containing many assumptions and unknowns is to conduct dedicated tests simulating the operational case as close as possible. Within this context, a series of test activities have been planned so as to provide structural integrity verification of rotor system. In order to evaluate structural and aeromechanical performance of the rotor system, a Whirl Tower is designed and manufactured indigenously in TAI. In this study, an assessment on Whirl Tower test of full scale teetering rotor system including 3m composite rotor blades is carried out in consideration of structural integrity. Strain and various load data is collected during the tests and results are compared with finite element model in order to investigate blade structural integrity and performance. Also; utilized numerical methodology is verified by this comparison. Results showed that, blade structural performance is in expected range, and finite element analysis successfully predicts strains.