Development of large rotorcraft transmissions

The U.S. Army Heavy Lift Helicopter (HLH) represents a large rotorcraft which was developed by an American aerospace company. In the early 1970's with the HLH Advanced Technology Components (ATC) program, the development of large rotorcraft transmission and drive systems was started. Failures in the spiral bevel gearing were experienced in tests because the employed method of analysis had not considered the effect of rim bending. Consequently, new gears with strengthened rims were designed and fabricated. For a more accurate prediction of the load capacity of the gears, an extensive Finite Element Method (FEM) system was developed. The U.S. Army's XCH-62 HLH aft rotor transmission was finally successfully tested at full design torque and speed. A description of the test program is provided, and the analytical program is discussed. The analytical phase includes the development of a preprocessing program which aids in the review of calculated FEM stresses.