Experimental investigation to understand robust design with paper helicopter

Abstract

Paper helicopter is an inexpensive model and the simplest one used to study the motion of a freely falling rotating body. The behavior of a fixed axis autorotating wing is studied in the present study. The auto rotation of paper helicopter is analyzed through experimental studies by varying the number of blades, aspect ratio and thickness of paper. The study is conducted by dropping the models from pre-defined height in a closed environment to reduce the gust related errors. The aspect ratio, number of blades and thickness are varied, and the optimized model is analyzed. It is found that reducing the number of blades and aspect ratio is preferable to have higher hovering time in airspace with less thickness of the propeller blades. From the study, it is found that 2-bladed propellers having aspect ratio of 0.25 with less thickness exhibits a better hovering time than other models considered.