Strength Analysis of Helicopter Tail Rotor Blades Made from Composite Materials

Abstract

AbstractThis work considers fatigue strength behavior of construction made from composite materials. Primary attention in this work is focused to fatigue strength behaviors of helicopter tail rotor blade made from composite materials. In this investigation some aspects of design and experimental verification of composite structural elements are considered. Special attention in this consideration is focused on strength analysis of composite structures with application to helicopter tail rotor blades HT-40.To analyze fatigue strength behavior of composite blade here the blade tested under static and fatigue load spectrum. For precise definition of load spectrum of helicopter tail rotor blades here computation fluid dynamic (CFD) numerical simulation is used. In this consideration for determination aerodynamic loads of helicopter tail rotor blades two computation models are used. In first model isolated tail rotor blade is considered. In the second computation model the complete helicopter is modeled including fuselage together with main and tail rotor blades. To determine stresses in blades here finite element method (FEM) is used. To verify fatigue strength of the tail rotor composite blade here is tested with respect to fatigue for one critical load case. In addition to experimental verification of tail rotor blade here is illustrated computation procedure for optimal design of the layered composite panel.KeywordsHelicopter tail rotor bladeComposite materialsFatigue strengthExperimental verificationFEMCFD