Understanding the Potential of Aeroelastic Couplings to Stabilize Ground and Air Resonance in a Soft-Inplane Tiltrotor

The tiltrotor offers the best mix of hovering and cruise flight of any of the current V/STOL configurations. One possible improvement on the tiltrotors of today designs would be using a soft-inplane hingeless hub. The advantages to a soft-inplane hingeless hub range from reduced weight and maintenance to reduced vibration and loads. However, soft-inplane rotor systems are inherently in danger of the aeromechanical instabilities of ground and air resonance. Furthermore tiltrotors can be subject to whirl flutter. At least in part because of the potential for air and ground resonance in a soft-inplane rotor, the Bell XV-15, the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey, and the new Bell Augusta 609 have stiff-inplane, gimballed rotors which do not experience these instabilities. In order to design soft-inplane V/STOL aircraft that do not experience ground or air resonance, it is important to be able to predict these instabilities accurately. Much of the research studying the stability of tiltrotors has been focused on the understanding and prediction of whirl flutter. As this instability is increasingly well understood, air and ground resonance for a tiltrotor need to be investigated. Once we understand the problems of air and ground resonance in a tiltrotor, we must look for solutions to these instabilities. Other researchers have found composite or kinematic couplings in the blades of a helicopter helpful for ground and air resonance stability. Tiltrotor research has shown composite couplings in the wing to be helpful for whirl flutter. Therefore, this project will undertake to model ground and air resonance of a soft-inplane hingeless tiltrotor to understand the mechanisms involved and to evaluate whether aeroelastic couplings in the wing or kinematic couplings in the blades would aid in stabilizing these instabilities in a tiltrotor.