Ground and Flight Testing of a Hub Mounted Vibration Suppression System

The performance of a new vibration control system consisting of a prototype dual-frequency Hub Mounted Vibration Suppressor (HMVS) is described. Bench tests were conducted at a LORD Corp. test facility on a CH-3 fuselage and lead to a flight test conducted on a UH-60A BLACK HAWK helicopter at the AATD flight test facility in Ft. Eustis, VA. During bench and flight test, the HMVS was used to actively nullify all fuselage N/rev vibrations due to in-plane vibratory hub loads in absence of all other vibration suppression systems, both passive and active. A direct comparison against the existing passive in-plane suppressor was made between flight phases. The flight test results indicated that the system successfully matched or exceeded performance of the existing passive system, yielding lower global fuselage vibration at a significant weight savings.