Browse Topic: Helicopters

Items (549)
A tested method of data presentation and use is described herein. The method shown is a useful guide, to be used with care and to be improved with use.
S-12 Powered Lift Propulsion Committee
Engines subject to dust, industrial pollution, saltwater contamination or other chemically laden atmosphere (including pesticides and herbicides) lose performance due to deposits of contaminants on surfaces in the aidgas flow path. Engine wash and engine rinse procedures are utilized to restore turbine engine performance. These procedures are generated by the engine manufacturer and are included in the Engine Maintenance/Service Manuals. For most turbine engines these procedures are similar in concept and practice; however, application details, choice of solvents and many other service features can vary from engine manufacturer to engine manufacturer and may even vary within the range of engine models produced by any manufacturer. The intent of this SAE Aerospace Information Report (AIR) is to outline the general nature, considerations, and background of engine wash and engine rinse and is directed towards the needs of the entry level engineer, service engineer, and those involved in
S-12 Powered Lift Propulsion Committee
Airbus Marignane, France laurence.petiard@airbus.com
There are examples in aerodynamics that take advantage of electric-to-aerodynamic analogies, like the law of Biot–Savart, which is used in aerodynamic theory to calculate the velocity induced by a vortex line. This article introduces an electric-to-aerodynamic analogy that models the lift, drag, and thrust of an airplane, a helicopter, a propeller, and a flapping bird. This model is intended to complement the recently published aerodynamic equation of state for lift, drag, and thrust of an engineered or a biological flyer by means of an analogy between this equation and Ohm’s law. This model, as well as the aerodynamic equation of state, are both intended to include the familiar and time-proven parameters of pressure, work, and energy, analytical tools that are ubiquitous in all fields of science but absent in an aerodynamicists’ day-to-day tasks. Illustrated by various examples, this modeling approach, as treated in this article, is limited to subsonic flight.
Burgers, Phillip
This article introduces an advanced state-of-charge (SOC) estimation method customized for 28 V LiFePO4 (LFP) helicopter batteries. The battery usage profile is characterized by four consecutive current pulses, each corresponding to distinct operational phases on the helicopter: instrument check, key-on, recharge, and emergency power output stages. To establish a precise battery model for LFP cells, the parameters of a second-order equivalent-circuit model are identified as a function of C-rate, SOC, and temperature. Furthermore, the observability of the battery model is assessed using extended Lie derivatives. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the open-circuit voltage (OCV)–SOC relation is analyzed and employed to evaluate the estimator’s resilience against OCV flatness. The extended Kalman filter (EKF) and the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) are utilized for SOC estimation. The results emphasize the significance of meticulously choosing process and sensor noise covariance matrices to
Gao, YizhaoNguyen, TrungOnori, Simona
This paper is focused on the numerical analysis of the impingement and water catch rate of snow particles on the engine air intake of the Next Generation Civil Tilt Rotor (NGCTR). This NGCTR is developed by Leonardo Helicopters. The collection efficiency and water catch rate for the intake geometry are obtained for the test cases that have been defined for the relevant snow conditions. These conditions are related to the flight envelope of the NGCTR, existing EASA/FAA certification specifications, and the snow characterization. The analyses have been performed for the baseline air intake geometry. A range of particle diameters has been simulated with a particle density equal to the density of ice and with a particle drag relation that disregards the particle shape. Based on the results for the water catch rate on the basic nacelle configuration in snow conditions it is concluded that the ‘cheeks’ of the duct are more susceptible to impingement of larger snow crystals (>75 μm), whereas
Kool, NinaVan der Weide, EdwinSpek, Ferdinandvan der Ven, Harmenvan 't Hoff, Stefan
This paper focuses on the design of the thermoelectric ice protection system (IPS) for the engine air intake of the Next Generation Civil Tiltrotor (NGCTR), a demonstrator under development in Leonardo Helicopters. A specific IPS design strategy for the novel intake configuration is proposed. The main constraint which driven the design strategy is a maximum power of 10.6 kW available for the full intake IPS system. The IPS was designed for safe aircraft operations within the Appendix-C icing envelope. The numerical approach adopted to perform the design and the resulting IPS concept are presented. Calculations of the required IPS heat fluxes revealed that maintaining running wet conditions on the entire intake surface is not feasible due to the limitation to the maximum IPS power demand. Therefore, a de-icing IPS design strategy is proposed. The anti-icing mode is adopted only on the lip region to avoid formation of ice caps whereas de-icing zones are defined within the intake duct
Tormen, DamianoZanon, AlessandroDe Gennaro, Michele
Ice accretion on helicopter rotor blades when flying through supercooled droplet clouds can severely affect aerodynamic properties and pose a significant threat to flight safety. In the design phase, manufacturers commonly use 2D or quasi-3D simulations to predict potential ice accretion, which are more economical than fully 3D approaches. However, these methods frequently encounter accuracy issues when predicting the precise amount of ice accretion because the 3D flow field significantly influences droplet trajectories and, as a result, impingement and accreted mass. For this study the Eulerian particle solver of the icing software DICEPS was upgraded from 2D to 3D using second-order schemes, ensuring numerical stability on unstructured mesh configurations. Validation of the 3D modifications was performed by comparing numerical results of the collection efficiency on a sphere with experimental data. Droplet trajectory calculations were then conducted on a NACA0012 rotor in hover
Buchen, PhilippSotomayor-Zakharov, DenisKnop, Inken
Small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS) growth continues for recreational and commercial applications. By 2025, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) predicts the sUAS fleet to number nearly 2.4 million units. As sUAS operations expand within the National Airspace System (NAS), so too does the probability of near midair collisions (NMACs) between sUAS and aircraft. Currently, the primary means of recognizing sUAS NMACs rely on pilots to visually spot and evade conflicting sUAS. Pilots may report such encounters to the FAA as UAS Sighting Reports. Sighting reports are of limited value as they are highly subjective and dependent on the pilot to accurately estimate range and altitude information. Moreover, they do not account for NMACs that an aircrew member does not spot. The purpose of this study was to examine objective sUAS and aircraft telemetry data collected using a DJI Aeroscope sensor and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B)/Mode S messages throughout 36 months
Wallace, Ryan J.Winter, Scott R.Rice, StephenKovar, David C.Lee, Sang-A
This SAE Aerospace Information Report (AIR) defines the helicopter bleed air requirements which may be obtained through compressor extraction and is intended as a guide to engine designers.
S-12 Powered Lift Propulsion Committee
In subsonic aircraft design, the aerodynamic performance of aircraft is compared meaningfully at a system level by evaluating their range and endurance, but cannot do so at an aerodynamic level when using lift and drag coefficients, CL and CD , as these often result in misleading results for different wing reference areas. This Part I of the article (i) illustrates these shortcomings, (ii) introduces a dimensionless number quantifying the induced drag of aircraft, and (iii) proposes an aerodynamic equation of state for lift, drag, and induced drag and applies it to evaluate the aerodynamics of the canard aircraft, the dual rotors of the hovering Ingenuity Mars helicopter, and the composite lifting system (wing plus cylinders in Magnus effect) of a YOV-10 Bronco. Part II of this article applies this aerodynamic equation of state to the flapping flight of hovering and forward-flying insects. Part III applies the aerodynamic equation of state to some well-trodden cases in fluid mechanics
Burgers, Phillip
This SAE Aerospace Information Report (AIR) describes the different aspects of corrosion on helicopter powerplants, on the components that are affected, and the subsequent consequences on the helicopter, engine durability, performance, and dependability. Guidelines that minimize corrosion during the design stage and during service operation are also discussed.
S-12 Powered Lift Propulsion Committee
Bell Amarillo, TX 817-280-1949
This document describes a method to calculate noise level adjustments at locations behind an airplane (described by an angular offset or directivity) at the start of takeoff roll (SOTR). This method is derived from empirical data from jet aircraft (circa 2004), most of which are configured with wing-mounted engines with high by-pass ratios (Lau, et al., 2012). Methods are also described which apply to modern turboprop aricraft. Calculations of other propagation-related adjustments required for aircraft noise prediction models are described in AIR1845A, ARP5534, ARP866A, and AIR5662.
A-21 Aircraft Noise Measurement Aviation Emission Modeling
Slowed rotors – traditionally associated with autogyros and gyroplanes – have long been recognized as one potential solution for high-speed helicopters (200-300 knots). During the 1950s–70s, there were several significant programs that led to the development of high-speed helicopters with thrust and lift compounding. The key technology barriers common to all were extremely high fuel consumption due to high advancing side drag and large reverse flow, complexities associated with RPM reduction, large blade motions during RPM reduction, and unexplained but catastrophic aeroelastic instabilities of rigid rotors (Cheyenne). None of these helicopters entered regular production.
In August 2011, a US CH-47 Chinook helicopter began its descent in a remote corner of Afghanistan to insert elite Special Forces soldiers at an important objective. Unseen by the aircrew or US reconnaissance drones, a Taliban operative fired a Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) at the landing Chinook aircraft, causing it to lose control and crash, killing all 38 service members on board.
This SAE Aerospace Recommended Practice (ARP) recommends a methodology to be used for the design, analysis and test evaluation of modern helicopter gas turbine propulsion system stability and transient response characteristics. This methodology utilizes the computational power of modern digital computers to more thoroughly analyze, simulate and bench-test the helicopter engine/rotor system speed control loop over the flight envelope. This up-front work results in significantly less effort expended during flight test and delivers a more effective system into service. The methodology presented herein is recommended for modern digital electronic propulsion control systems and also for traditional analog and hydromechanical systems.
S-12 Powered Lift Propulsion Committee
The Mars Perseverance rover incorporates new design advances since Curiosity landed on the Red Planet, including a Mars Helicopter. Tech Briefs spoke with NASA’s Keith Comeaux, Deputy Project Chief Engineer, to learn more about these new technologies.
Since, ice accretion can significantly degrade the performance and the stability of an airborne vehicle, it is imperative to be able to model it accurately. While ice accretion studies have been performed on airplane wings and helicopter blades in abundance, there are few that attempt to model the process on more complex geometries such as fuselages. This paper proposes a methodology that extends an existing in-house Extended Messinger solver to complex geometries by introducing the capability to work with unstructured grids and carry out spatial surface streamwise marching. For the work presented here commercial solvers such as STAR-CCM+ and ANSYS Fluent are used for the flow field and droplet dispersed phase computations. The ice accretion is carried out using an in-house icing solver called GT-ICE. The predictions by GT-ICE are compared to available experimental data, or to predictions by other solvers such as LEWICE and STAR-CCM+. Three different cases with varying levels of
Gupta, AvaniSankar, LakshmiKreeger, Richard
Jasmin Moghbeli’s astronaut class graduated in January 2020 — the first class to graduate since the agency announced the Artemis program. She holds a BS degree in aerospace engineering with information technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a MS in engineering science in aerospace engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. Moghbeli was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in 2005 upon completion of her undergraduate degree. An AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter pilot and Marine Corps test pilot, Moghbeli served in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010. At the time of her selection as an astronaut candidate, Moghbeli was testing H-1 helicopters. She has accumulated more than 150 combat missions and 2,000 hours of flight time in more than 25 different aircraft. She is eligible for assignment to missions destined for the International Space Station, the Moon, and ultimately, Mars.
It is recommended that all helicopter engine development programs include an evaluation of engine starting requirements. The evaluation should include starting requirement effects on helicopter weight, cost, and mission effectiveness. The evaluation should be appropriate to the engine stage of development.
S-12 Powered Lift Propulsion Committee
Composite materials are desirable for aeronautical and aerospace applications for many reasons including their high strength-to-weight ratios, fatigue and corrosion resistance, design adaptability, and performance capabilities in harsh environments. Because of these qualities, composites are useful in many applications such as in armor, helmets, and helicopters, and as structural components.
By mimicking the outer coating of pearls (nacre or mother of pearl), researchers created a lightweight plastic that is 14 times stronger and eight times lighter (less dense) than steel. It could be applicable to vests, helmets, and other types of body armor as well as protective armor for ships, helicopters, and other vehicles.
Reconfigurable tooling frames consisting of steel box sections and bolted friction clamps offer an opportunity to replace traditional expensive welded steel tooling. This well publicized reconfigurable reusable jig tooling has been investigated for use in the assembly of a prototype compound helicopter wing. Due to the aircraft configuration, the wing design is pinned at both ends and therefore requires a higher degree of end to end accuracy, over the 4m length, than conventional wings. During the investigation some fundamental issues are approached, including: Potential cost savings and variables which effect the business case. Achievable Jig accuracy. Potential sources of instability that may affect accuracy over time. Repeatability of measurements with various features and methods. Typical jig stability over 24hrs including effects of small temperature fluctuations. Deflections that occur due to loading. The cost benefit of reusable tooling in a low volume prototype scenario is
Crossley, Richard J.Ratchev, Svetan
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