Numerical Prediction of Sand Erosion for Helicopter Blade Erosion Protection: Challenges and Ways Forwards

Sand erosion causes severe damage to the leading edge of helicopter rotor blades. Such damage leads to high maintenance costs and reduced availability of U.S. Army helicopters. To develop mitigation methods for sand erosion, it is important to be able to predict the extent and severity of sand particle impact damage on the rotor blades. The prediction will guide both material selection and blade coverage determination for erosion protection. It is also important to understand the erosion mechanism so that robust erosion protection material solutions can be developed. This paper presents initial progress of an effort to develop a physics based model for sand erosion prediction. The model development focuses on Ti-6Al-4V (currently used on rotor blade leading edges) as a representative ductile material. Details of material models, sand erosion representation by the finite element approach, solution procedures, predicted erosion rates, and validation test data are covered in this paper.