23rd Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, 8-13 September, 2002, Toronto, Canada
Paper ICAS 2002-R6

CENTRIFUGAL AND 3D EFFECTS ON THE NEAR TIP SECTION OF ROTATING BLADE

E. Berton, D. Favier, C. Maresca, M. Nsi Mba
CNRS/ University of Méditerranée, France

Keywords: aerodynamics, helicopter rotor blades, laser velocimetry, forward flight

The present paper concerns a new approach for determining local airloads on helicopter rotor blade sections in forward flight. The method is based on the momentum equation in which all the terms are expressed by means of the velocity field measured by a Laser Doppler Velocimetry technique. The study emphasizes on the relative order of magnitude of all the terms involved in the momentum equation. In order to evaluate the finite span influence and the centrifugal effects on lift and drag, experiments are also carried out on 2D and 3D wings oscillating through dynamic stall conditions.

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