Impact of optimized variable rotor speed and active blade twist control on helicopter blade–vortex interaction noise and environmental impact

Abstract

Combined variable rotor speed and active blade twist helicopter technologies have the potential to reduce the environmental and acoustic impact of modern rotorcraft. This paper explores the aeroacoustics, environmental and ground noise impact of combined variable rotor speed and active blade twist helicopter rotors, optimized for simultaneous mitigation of source noise and NOx emissions. An integrated approach is employed including free-wake aeroelastic rotor modeling and time-domain aeroacoustic formulations fundamentally based on Acoustic Analogy. The overall method is incorporated into a multi-disciplinary design space exploration and surrogate-model-assisted optimization algorithm. The developed framework is deployed towards devising optimal variable rotor speed and active blade twist control for a representative twin-engine light helicopter operating in a realistic descent trajectory. The obtained rotor control schedules achieve overall ground noise reductions of up to 7 dB with concurrent NOx reductions of 11%, relative to the conventional rotor. The proposed approach provides new insight into rotor wake behavior and blade–vortex interactions, as well as environmental impact and ground noise footprint of combined variable rotor speed and active blade twist helicopter concepts.