Improving the Mechanical Behavior of a Helicopter Tail Rotor Blade Through the Use of Polyurethane Foams

Andrei Daniel Voicu,Anton Hadar,Daniel Vlascean

doi:10.37358/rc.19.11.7716

Abstract

The tail rotor blade represents a very important component in the structure of any helicopter, being subjected to many aerodynamic loads. The integrity of this component is essential for maintaining flight safety and improving its characteristics can increase the overall performance of the helicopter. Thus, in some cases, some improvements can be made to the structure, in order to reduce the weight of the component and to improve its mechanical properties and its reliability in flight. The current paper presents a comparative result analysis in the study of the tail rotor blade of the IAR 330 helicopter, where the honeycomb hexagonal core made of aluminum alloy is replaced with a full structural core made of polyurethane foam. The result of the analysis is of practical importance, because it shows the benefits of using polymers in the construction of helicopter rotor blades and similar structures.

Highlights

The tail rotor blade represents a very important component in the structure of any helicopter, being subjected to many aerodynamic loads
The tail rotor blade of a helicopter is the main component of the tail rotor, which has the purpose of maintaining the directional stability of the helicopter by countering the torque effect created by the main rotor [2]
The results presented in table 3 reveal an increase in the maximum total deformation of the blade of approximately 2.2 mm. It might seem as a large increase compared to the 1.418 mm deformation obtained for the aluminum honeycomb core blade, taking into account that the simulation has been realized for the maximum aerodynamic load which occurs during flight, it is safe to say that the polyurethane foam core is a viable solution for replacing the honeycomb core of the blade

Summary

Introduction

The tail rotor blade represents a very important component in the structure of any helicopter, being subjected to many aerodynamic loads. Despite numerous advantages that composite materials exhibit over metallic structures, some aircrafts haven’t yet made the full transition towards imbedding composite structures in key areas One of these aircrafts is the multipurpose IAR330 helicopter, currently used by the Romanian Air Force, which is equipped with composite main rotor blades and metal tail rotor blades. The internal structure of the studied blade is composed of a metallic spar which runs across the whole length of the blade and a honeycomb core, incorporating numerous hexagonal cells. Due to this fact, the geometrical complexity of the structure increases and the number of contact areas between structural components, leading to a significantly larger processing time for the numerical simulation. A wide variety of cell shapes can be used, depending on the purpose of the whole structure and depending on the requirements which must be met

Objectives

Results

Conclusion