Design aspects of the XV-15 advanced technology blade program

The paper discusses the design of a tiltrotor blade for application to the XV-15 research demonstration aircraft. The design features 43 deg nonlinear twist and nonuniform tapered planform. The structure is composite with extensive use of graphite in the primary structure. Instrumentation and wiring is encapsulated in the composite structure during the cure cycle. The tip shell is removable, providing access to the tracking and balance weights. This feature provides research facility of alternate tip configurations. The cuff is similarly removable. The graphite epoxy system used is high strain American Cyanamid's Celion 6000ST/Cycom 950. This is the first application of this material in rotor blades.