Method for eliminating aerodynamic lift vibration of rigid rotor helicopters based on the novel sine-trim model

Abstract

A novel methodology called sine-trim is proposed from the phasor superposition principle for AC voltages in electrical engineering to eliminate the aerodynamic lift vibration of rigid rotor helicopters. An advancing blade concept rotor aerodynamic analysis model is presented on the basis of free-wake method associated with the inner- and outer-trim modules. The inner-trim module transforms the blade lift distribution curve of a rigid lift-offset rotor into a similar sinusoidal one by adjusting the blade pitch in each azimuth. An acceleration algorithm that could greatly improve the inner-trim calculation efficiency is provided. The outer-trim module selects the amplitude of the lower rotor as the preset trim value, and it is reliable and effective in trimming the overall forces and moments of the helicopter by modifying the lift sinusoid curve parameters of the upper and lower rotors. In the sine-trim, the upper and lower rotors have similar sinusoidal lift distribution parameters, and their phases and amplitudes exhibit a direct inverse relationship. Calculation results show that after being sine-trimmed, the total aerodynamic lift vibration of the rigid rotors could be eliminated regardless of the change in flight and operating conditions, such as flight speed, number of blades, and rotor rotational speed. The optimal blade pitch control distribution, which is a comprehensive superposition of many higher harmonic inputs, is obtained in all azimuths. For the same lift-offset, after sine-trimming, the effective lift-to-drag ratio may have a small degree of loss compared with the conventional advancing blade concept rotor.