Design and aeroelastic analysis of active twist rotor blades incorporating single crystal macro fiber composite actuators

Abstract

The advanced active twist rotor (AATR) blade incorporating single crystal macro fiber composite (single crystal MFC) actuators is designed and the aeroelastic analysis is performed. The AATR blade is designed based on an existing passive blade and the NASA/ARMY/MIT active twist rotor (ATR) prototype blade. The AATR blade is designed to satisfy all the requirements and the properties of the AATR blade are compared with those of the ATR prototype blade. The aeroelastic analysis of the designed AATR blade for the hover condition is conducted. In order to predict the vibration reduction capability, the twist actuation frequency response of the AATR blade is investigated by the numerical simulation. As a result, although lower input voltage is used, the AATR blade can achieve higher twist actuation that is sufficient to alleviate the helicopter vibration as compared with the ATR blades using the AFC and the standard MFC.