Purpose The purpose of this study is to obtain optimum locations, peak deflection and chord of the twin trailing-edge flaps and optimum torsional stiffness of the helicopter rotor blade to minimize the vibration in the rotor hub with minimum requirement of flap control power. Design/methodology/approach Kriging metamodel with three-level five variable orthogonal array-based data points is used to decouple the optimization problem and actual aeroelastic analysis. Findings Some very good design solutions are obtained using this model. The best design point in minimizing vibration gives about 81 per cent reduction in the hub vibration with a penalization of increased flap power requirement, at normal cruise speed of rotor-craft flight. Practical implications One of the major challenges in the helicopters is the high vibration level in comparison with fixed wing aircraft. The reduction in vibration level in the helicopter improves passenger and crew comfort and reduces maintenance cost. Originality/value This paper presents design optimization of the helicopter rotor blade combining five design variables, such as the locations of twin trailing-edge flaps, peak deflection and flap chord and torsional stiffness of the rotor. Also, this study uses kriging metamodel to decouple the complex aeroelastic analysis and optimization problem.
This paper aims to find a robust optimal design for twin trailing-edge flap for helicopter vibration reduction for various flying conditions with minimum flap power requirement. The objective is to find the optimum length and locations of twin trailing-edge flaps to minimize hub vibration in the helicopter with minimum flap power requirement and to evaluate the robustness of these optimum at various flying conditions such as advance ratio and thrust to solidity ratio. Polynomial response surface metamodels is used to approximate the hub vibration and flap power objective functions for optimization. Firstly, a single objective optimization minimizing hub vibration alone is carried out without considering the flap power requirement. A multi-objective optimization minimizing vibration and flap power is also carried out to explore the possibility of a compromise design of trailing-edge flaps. This optimization finds the robust optimal length and locations of twin trailing-edge flaps with the objective of minimizing hub vibration for various flying conditions. Result shows that a flap length of 9 percentage of the rotor is the optimum giving 55 percentage reduction in hub vibration compared to the baseline values. The corresponding inboard and outboard flap positions are 0.61R and 0.87R respectively. The robustness of these design solution with flying conditions such as advance ratio and thrust to solidity ratio are also explored.
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