Understanding the Effects of Blade Flexibility on Helicopter Control Response

This paper describes an ongoing effort to improve the understanding of the effects of blade flexibility on helicopter control response. A novel approach is developed in which the equations governing the coupled dynamics of the fuselage and flexible rotor system are analytically transformed and linearized, so that the causes of the observed effects can be explained physically. Because of the generality and adaptability of the model implementation, extensions to include additional degrees of freedom and more complex aerodynamic descriptions are possible.