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Coning Angle in Hover

The document discusses hover performance and coning angle calculations for helicopter blades, focusing on the balance between aerodynamic and centrifugal forces at the hinge. It explains how these forces lead to an equilibrium position where net moments cancel out, and introduces the Lock number as a measure of this balance. The Lock number varies between articulated and hingeless rotors, indicating different performance characteristics.

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flightdyn
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6 views7 pages

Coning Angle in Hover

The document discusses hover performance and coning angle calculations for helicopter blades, focusing on the balance between aerodynamic and centrifugal forces at the hinge. It explains how these forces lead to an equilibrium position where net moments cancel out, and introduces the Lock number as a measure of this balance. The Lock number varies between articulated and hingeless rotors, indicating different performance characteristics.

Uploaded by

flightdyn
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Hover Performance

Coning Angle Calculations

© L. Sankar Helicopter
1
Aerodynamics
Background
• Blades are usually hinged near the root, to alleviate high bending
moments at the root.
• This allows the blades t flap up and down.
• Aerodynamic forces cause the blades to flap up.
• Centrifugal forces causes the blades to flap down.
• In hover, an equilibrium position is achieved, where the net moments
at the hinge due to the opposing forces (aerodynamic and centrifugal)
cancel out and go to zero.

© L. Sankar Helicopter
2
Aerodynamics
Schematic of Forces and Moments
dL

r
dCentrifugal
Force
β0

We assume that the rotor is hinged at the root, for simplicity.


This assumption is adequate for most aerodynamic calculations.
Effects of hinge offset are discussed in many classical texts.

© L. Sankar Helicopter
3
Aerodynamics
Moment at the Hinge due to
Aerodynamic Forces
From blade element theory, the lift force dL =
1
2
[ 2 2
] 1
ρc (Ωr ) + v C l dr ≈ ρc(Ωr ) C l dr
2
2

Moment arm = r cosβ0 ~ r 1


Counterclockwise moment due to lift = ρc(Ωr ) rC l dr
2

2
Integrating over all such strips,
Total counterclockwise moment =
r =R
1
∫r =0 2 ρc(Ωr ) rCl dr
2

© L. Sankar Helicopter
4
Aerodynamics
Moment due to Centrifugal Forces
The centrifugal force acting on this strip = (Ωr ) dm
2
= Ω 2 rdm
r
Where “dm” is the mass of this strip.
This force acts horizontally.
The moment arm = r sinβ0 ~ r β0
Clockwise moment due to centrifugal forces = Ω 2 r 2 β 0 dm

Integrating over all such strips, total clockwise moment =


r =R

∫ β β0
2 2 2
Ω r 0 dm ≡ IΩ
r =0

© L. Sankar Helicopter
5
Aerodynamics
At equilibrium..

r =R
1
IΩ β 0 = ∫ ρc(Ωr ) rCl dr
2 2

r =0
2
r =R
1
∫r =0 2 Cl dr ρacR 4
ρ 3
cr r =R 3
r r
β0 =
I
=
I ∫r =0  R  α effective d R

Lock Number, γ
© L. Sankar Helicopter
6
Aerodynamics
Lock Number, γ
• The quantity γ=ρacR4/I is called the Lock number.
• It is a measure of the balance between the aerodynamic forces and inertial forces
on the rotor.
• In general γ has a value between 8 and 10 for articulated rotors (i.e. rotors with
flapping and lead-lag hinges).
• It has a value between 5 and 7 for hingeless rotors.
• We will later discuss optimum values of Lock number.

© L. Sankar Helicopter
7
Aerodynamics

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