Determination of Load Distributions on Main Helicopter Rotor Blades and Strength Analysis of Its Structural Components

Abstract

To define load spectra of main rotor blades in this study computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software is used. The aim of the present investigation is the development of a CFD computation procedure capable of accurately simulating the flow around a full helicopter especially around main rotor blades. For this purpose the complete helicopter configuration including fuselage, main rotor and tail rotor computer-aided design (CAD) models are used in CFD modeling and determination of loads. Primary attention in this investigation is focused on defining loads of main rotor blades because metal trailing edge segments of these blades were replaced with a new segments made from honeycomb composite materials. As critical structural parts with respects to strength here are glued joints between metal and composite segments of trailing edge are considered. For precise stress analysis of these segments, including glued joints, the finite element method is used.