Research on operation cost of helicopter components based on flight condition

Abstract

Operation and support cost occupy large proportion of life-cycle cost. The operation cost prediction is difficult due to the complex helicopter flight conditions. Based on the fatigue damage by flight conditions, an analytical model is presented for the calculation of influence of flight time proportion changes on the operation cost of helicopter components by introduced influence factor. Two influence factors for the cases where only one flight condition is modified at a time and all flight conditions except one are modified can provide qualitative ordering and quantitative assessment of flight condition changes on operation cost. Some results are obtained by the analysis to helicopter main rotors based on flight spectrum. For the helicopter main rotors only two of the forty-eight flight conditions would have any significant effect that a 0.1 time fraction change leads to operation cost change more than 0.01. The results indicate this method can be used practically in operation cost prediction of helicopter components.