Hover Testing of the NASA/Army/MIT Active Twist Rotor Prototype BladeHelicopter rotor individual blade control promises to provide a mechanism for increased rotor performance and reduced rotorcraft vibrations and noise. Active material methods, such as piezoelectrically actuated trailing-edge flaps and strain-induced rotor blade twisting, provide a means of accomplishing individual blade control without the need for hydraulic power in the rotating system. Recent studies have indicated that controlled strain induced blade twisting can be attained using piezoelectric active fiber composite technology. In order to validate these findings experimentally, a cooperative effort between NASA Langley Research Center, the Army Research Laboratory, and the MIT Active Materials and Structures Laboratory has been developed. As a result of this collaboration an aeroelastically-scaled active-twist model rotor blade has been designed and fabricated for testing in the heavy gas environment of the Langley Transonic Dynamics Tunnel (TDT). The results of hover tests of the active-twist prototype blade are presented in this paper. Comparisons with applicable analytical predictions of active-twist frequency response in hovering flight are also presented.
Document ID
20040086736
Acquisition Source
Langley Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Matthew L Wilbur (United States Army Research Laboratory Adelphi, Maryland, United States)
William T Yeager, Jr (United States Army Research Laboratory Adelphi, Maryland, United States)
W Keats Wilkie (United States Army Research Laboratory Adelphi, Maryland, United States)
Carlos E S Cesnik (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States)
SangJoon Shin (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States)
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
May 2, 2000
Publication Information
Publisher: Vertical Flight Society
ISBN: 9781617829376
Subject Category
Aircraft Design, Testing And Performance
Meeting Information
Meeting: 56th American Helicopter Society Annual Forum