The influence of pitch-lag coupling on the predicted aeroelastic stability of the XV-15 tilting proprotor aircraft

The predicted dynamic stability of the XV-15 tilting proprotor aircraft in cruise flight is updated, using a reduced increase in the pitch gimbal coupling with collective, and a higher nominal control system stiffness. The major influence of the pitch-lag coupling of the XV-15 gimballed, stiff-inplane rotor on the aircraft stability is shown. The influence of the blade pitch dynamics is found to be contained primarily in the quasistatic pitch-lag and pitch-gimbal coupling, although the complete dynamics is retained in the analysis for an accurate quantitative calculation of the stability boundary.