Battle damage repair of a helicopter composite main rotor blade

Abstract

The ability to repair battle damage is an important capability for helicopter structures, as they are vulnerable to ballistic impact damage from small arms fire and therefore more likely than fixed wing aircraft to suffer damage in a combat environment. This paper outlines computational investigations to aid the development of a battle damage repair capability for a helicopter composite main rotor blade. The effectiveness of the proposed repair concept was assessed using a finite element analysis that involved a relative comparison of three models, namely the pristine, damaged and repaired models.