Effect of Blade Planform Variation on a Small-Scale Hovering Rotor

Abstract

A hover test was conducted on a small-scale rotor model for three sets of tapered rotor blades and a baseline rectangular-planform rotor blade. All configurations had the same airfoils, twist, and thrust-weighted solidity. The tapered-blade planforms had taper initiating at 50, 75, and 94 percent of the blade radius with a taper ratio of 3 to 1 for each blade set. The experiment was conducted for a range of thrust coefficients, and the data were compared with the predictions of three hover analytical methods. The data show that the 94-percent tapered blade was slightly more efficient at the higher rotor thrust levels. The other tapered-planform rotors did not show the expected improvement over the baseline rotor. Keywords: Helicopters, Helicopter rotor blades, Tapered-planform rotor blades.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1990
Accession Number
ADA217873

Entities

People

  • Kevin W. Noonan
  • Susan L. Althoff

Organizations

  • Langley Research Center

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerodynamic Characteristics
  • Airfoils
  • Airframes
  • Blade Tips
  • Experimental Data
  • Figure Of Merit
  • Geometry
  • Helicopter Rotors
  • Lifting Surfaces
  • Mach Number
  • Measurement
  • Performance Tests
  • Pressure Measurement
  • Reynolds Number
  • Rotary Wing Aircraft
  • Two Dimensional
  • Wind Tunnels

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerodynamics.
  • Aerospace Engineering