Mach scaled wind tunnel tests on a 4-bladed half-span advanced Tilt-Rotor

The TILTAERO research project (submitted under the Competitive and Sustainable Growth Programme in the 5th Framework partially funded by the European Commission DG Research) was part of a continuing pan European activity whose principal aim is the acquisition and validation of tiltrotor (T/R) technology for Europe. The project partnership includes all European helicopter manufacturers, the Israel’s aircraft manufacturer, one university and four aerospace research centres. The main goal of TILTAERO was to investigate the aerodynamic interational phenomena dealing with an advanced Tilt-rotor configuration, based on the ERICA concept. This paper will mainly focus on the experimental workpackage, where a 2.5 Mach scaled half-span model has been designed, manufactured and tested in order to acquire forces and pressure on both fixed and rotating parts. The main features of the model will be presented, together with the experimental gathered results.