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Stochastic aeroelastic analysis of composite helicopter rotor with material uncertainty
, D. Harursampath, R. Ganguli
Published in
2007
Volume: 3
   
Pages: 1893 - 1946
Abstract
This study investigates the effect of randomness in composite material properties on the aeroelastic analysis predictions. The impact of material uncertainty on the cross-sectional stiffness, natural frequencies and aeroelastic response predictions of a composite helicopter rotor blade are studied. The elastic modulii and Poisson's ratio of the composite plies are considered as random variables with a coefficient of variation of 5 percent. An analytical model is used for evaluating blade cross-sectional stiffness. Aeroelastic analysis based on finite elements in space and time is used to evaluate the helicopter rotor blade response in hover. The stochastic cross-sectional and aeroelastic analyses are carried out with Monte Carlo simulations. The blade cross-sectional stiffness matrix elements show a coefficient of variation of about 9 percent. The impact of material uncertainty on rotating natural frequencies varies with the lag, flap and torsional motions because of centrifugal stiffening. The blade tip response in hover show a considerable scattering from the baseline value. The numerical results clearly show the need to consider randomness of composite material properties in the helicopter aeroelastic analysis.
About the journal
Journal33rd European Rotorcraft Forum 2007, ERF33
Open AccessNo