The tail rotor blade represents a very important component in the structure of any helicopter, being subjected to many aerodynamic loads. The integrity of this component is essential for maintaining flight safety and improving its characteristics can increase the overall performance of the helicopter. Thus, in some cases, some improvements can be made to the structure, in order to reduce the weight of the component and to improve its mechanical properties and its reliability in flight. The current paper presents a comparative result analysis in the study of the tail rotor blade of the IAR 330 helicopter, where the honeycomb hexagonal core made of aluminum alloy is replaced with a full structural core made of polyurethane foam. The result of the analysis is of practical importance, because it shows the benefits of using polymers in the construction of helicopter rotor blades and similar structures.
Determining the dynamic properties in the frequency domain of aircraft structural elements is a very important aspect taken into account nowadays by aircraft manufacturers. One of the helicopters most exposed element to structural vibrations is the rotor blade, thus making its construction and the material choice a very important decision. Finite element methods can be used to assess the vibrational properties of such elements, in order to prove their airworthiness. The main objective of the article is to study how the use of different materials affects the structural behavior of the helicopter tail rotor blade, with regard to the frequencies at which these structures are prone to vibrate. The blade profile is the NACA0012 symmetric airfoil used on the IAR330 helicopter tail rotor blade and the main objective is to identify the best inner core material, while highlighting the importance of polymeric materials.
In the study of the aerodynamic load applied by the air on the rotating helicopter blade, it is important to know that the values obtained from the numerical analysis are as close to reality as possible, within an acceptable limit. Therefore, in order to realize and obtain a pertinent result from a structural analysis, based on pressure loads obtained from the airflow surrounding the blade, it is important that the fluid flow results are certified by comparison with experimental result. In order to achieve this purpose, the tail rotor blade of the Romanian Air Force IAR330 helicopter has been modeled using Ansys Workbench and by using Fluid Flow, the values of the pressures on the main blade surfaces have been determined. The experimental values of the aerodynamic pressure have been determined using a 1:1 scale model of the blade, placed in the subsonic aerodynamic wind tunnel at INCAS Bucharest.
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