Toward a More Complete Analysis for Fluid-Structure Interaction in Helicopters

There have been developed many structural and fluid rotorcraft analysis models in rotorcraft community, and also lots of investigations have been conducted to combine these two models. These investigations turn out to be good at predicting the airloads precisely, but they have not taken the blade nonlinear deflection into account. For this reason, the present paper adopts a sophisticated structural model which can describe three-dimensional nonlinear deflection of the blade. And it is combined with two types of aerodynamic model. First one is generalized Greenberg type of finite-time aerodynamic model, which is originally established for a fixed wing, but later modified to be suitable for coupled flap-lag-torsional aeroelastic analysis of the rotor blade. Second aerodynamic model is based on the unsteady source-doublet panel method coupled with a free wake model. The advantages of the present method are capabilities to consider thickness of the blade and more precise wake effects. Transient responses of the airloads and structural deflections in time domain are mainly analyzed in this paper.