• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.680-685
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• 2006

This paper describes the aeroelastic stability test of the small-scaled 'Next-Generation Blade(NRSB)' with NRSH (Next-Generation Hub System) and HCTH hingeless hub system in hover and forward flight conditions. Excitation tests of rotor system installed in GSRTS(General Small-scale Rotor Test System) at KARI(Korea Aerospace Research Institute) were tarried out to get lead-lag damping ratio of blades with flexures as hub flexure. MBA(Moving Block Analysis) technique was used for the estimation of lead-lag damping ratio. First, NRSB-1F blades with HCTH hub system, Then NRSB-1F with NRSH hub system were tested. Second, NRSB-2F blades with NRSH hub system were tested. Tests were done on the ground and in the wind tunnel according to the test conditions of hover and forward flight, respectively. Non-rotating natural frequencies, non-rotating damping ratios and rotating natural frequencies were showed similar level fir each cases. Estimated damping ratios of NRSB-1F, NRSB-2F with HCTH and NRSH were above 0.5%, and damping ratio increased by collective pitch angle increasement. Furthermore damping ratios of NRSB-2F were higher than damping ratios of NRSB-1F in high pitch angle. It was confirmed that the blade design for noise reduction would give observable improvement in aeroelastic stability compared to paddle blade and NRSB-1F design.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.98-105
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• 2005

This paper presents the result of the aeroelastic stability test of the small-scaled hingeless hub system with composite paddle blades in hover and forward flight conditions. Excitation tests of hingeless hub system installed in GSRTS(General Small-scale Rotor Test System) at KARI(Korea Aerospace Research Institute) were carried out to get lead-lag damping ratio of blades with flexures as hub flexure. MBA(Moving Block Analysis) technique was used for the estimation of lead-lag damping ratio. First, blades with metal flexures, then with composite flexures of the same dynamic properties of rotor system as metal one were tested. Tests were done on the ground and in the wind tunnel according to the test conditions of hover and forward flight, respectively. Composite flexures were found to have better damping characteristics over metal ones in the non-rotating vibration test, and it was confirmed that the use of composite flexures would give observable improvement in aeroelastic stability compared to metal ones in all test conditions.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.84-96
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• 2005

Helical tip vortex is known as stable vortex structure, however the specific frequency component of far wake perturbation induces the vortex pairing in hover and axial flight. It is expected that the tip vortex pairing phenomena may happen in transition flight and very low advance ratio flight so that inflow may be most nonuniform in the low advance ratio flight. The objectives of this paper are that a tip-vortex instability during the transition from hover into very low advance ratio forward flight is numerically predicted to understand a physics by using a time-marching free-wake method. To achieve the objectives, numerical method is firstly validated in typical axial and forward flights cases. Present scheme with trim routine can predict airloads and inflow distribution of forward flight with good accuracy. Then, the transition flight condition is calculated. The rotor used in this wake calculation is a small-scale AH-1G model. By using a tip-vortex trajectory tracking method, the tip-vortex pairing process are clearly observed in transient flight($\mu$=0.03) and disappears at a slightly higher advance ratio($\mu$=0.05). According to the steady flight simulation at $\mu$=0.03, it is confirmed the tip-vortex pairing process is continued in the rear part of rotor disk and not occurs in the front part. Time averaged inflow in this case is predicted as smooth distribution.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.16 no.8 s.113
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• pp.848-856
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• 2006

This paper describes the aeroelastic stability test of the small-scaled 'Next-generation Blade(NRSB)' with NRSH (next-generation hub system) and HCTH hingeless hub system in hover and forward flight conditions. Excitation tests of rotor system installed in GSRTS (general small-scale rotor test system) at KARI (Korea Aerospace Research Institute) were carried out to get lead-lag damping ratio of blades with flexures as hub flexure. MBA(moving block analysis) technique was used for the estimation of lead-lag damping ratio. First, NRSB-1F blades with HCTH hub system, then NRSB- 1F with NRSH hub system were tested. Second, NRSB-2F blades with NRSH hub system were tested. Tests were done on the ground and in the wind tunnel according to the test conditions of hover and forward flight, respectively. Non-rotating natural frequencies, non-rotating damping ratios and rotating natural frequencies were showed similar level for each cases. Estimated damping ratios of NRSB-1F, NRSB-2F with HCTH and NRSH were above 0.5%, and damping ratio increased by collective pitch angle increasement. Furthermore damping ratios of NRSB-2F were higher than damping ratios of NRSB-1F in high Pitch angle. It was confirmed that the blade design for noise reduction would give observable improvement in aeroelastic stability compared to paddle blade and NRSB-1F design.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.36-43
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• 2017

Blade design optimization of QTP-UAV prop-rotor was conducted using ModelCenter(R). Performance efficiency of the blade in hover and forward flight were adopted as the multi-objective function. Required power and pitch link force applied to constraint in each flight mode and limited lower than the value of the baseline blade. Design variables of root chord length of the blade, taper ratio, twist slope, twist angle at 0.5R of the blade, anhedral angle, parabolic coefficient of a tip shape and location of airfoil were used to generate the blade planform. CAMRAD-II, the comprehensive analysis program of rotorcraft, was used for performance analysis of prop-rotor blade in design process. Performance of the optimized blade improved 1.6% of figure of merit in hover and 13.6% of propulsive efficiency in forward flight. Pitch link force also reduced approximately 30% less than that of the baseline blade.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.203-210
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• 2021

In many metropolitan cities around the world, ground and underground transportation networks are saturated due to urbanization. In addition, regulations on carbon emissions to prevent global warming are becoming stricter, and eVTOL, which will be operating in complex cities, is gaining popularity as the next generation of eco-friendly transportation. In this study, the hover lift efficiency and disc loading of eVTOLs for each type were calculated by classifying eVTOLs into following types: multicopter, lift+cruise, and vectored thrust. In addition, using the aerodynamic analysis programs OpenVSP, Fluent and Javaprop, the specific battery energy required for the smooth operation of eVTOL, which will be realized in the near future, was calculated and analyzed base on reports published by Uber and airworthiness authorities of each country.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.30-44
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• 2021

Experimental investigation of counter-rotating propellers is subject to multiple time and cost constraint because of additional design parameters unlike single propeller. Also, a lot of computing time and resources are required for numerical analysis due to consideration of the interference between the upper and lower propellers. In the present study, numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the hover performance of counter-rotating propellers by using actuator method which is considered to be time-efficient. The accuracy of the present numerical methods was validated by comparing the ANSYS Fluent which is commercial CFD code. The axial spacing and rotational speed were selected as the analysis variables, and the aerodynamic performance was obtained under various conditions. Based on the obtained results, the Figure of Merit (FM) of single propeller and counter-rotating propellers and a prediction factor which enables prediction of counter-rotating propeller performance using a single propeller were derived to evaluate availability of the actuator method.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.45-49
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• 2008

The present paper describes the results of performance analysis for UH-60A rotor blade in hover. For the numerical simulations, commercial CFD software, FLUENT was used with Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model. The flow solver was based on node based scheme and second order spatial accuracy options was used for simulations. For the enhancement of wake capturing capability, high resolution grid was used around tip vortex region. Granting that somewhat over-prediction of thrust was observed near blade tip region, performance was well correlated with experimental data within 3% accuracy in the operating region. Finally it was shown that the present flow solver can be used as a preliminary performance analysis tool for hovering helicopter rotor blades.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.20-29
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• 2009

There are concerns about the influence of the gust wind caused by helicopters affecting the moving vehicles while hovering over the road during rescue activities. For the understanding of such complicated flow. numerical simulation of a rotor hovering above the ground has been carried out, changing the rotor/ground clearances. The rotor thrust is kept constant. and the rotor control is determined by trim adjustments incorporated into the CFD algorithm. Collective pitch angle and the required power decreases with the rotor/ground clearance which agrees with experience. Changes of the flowfield near the rotor with regard to the rotor height are investigated based on the calculated results.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.784-790
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• 2012

This paper describes a stability and dynamic characteristics of bearingless helicopter main rotor in hover. Baseline rotor configuration is defined and modal analysis for the configuration is taken to verify the dynamic characteristics. The kinematic pitch-lag couplings through ways of pitch link installation are analyzed to know effects on loads, frequencies and stability. The effects of pitch link attachments in spanwise direction and chordwise direction as well as pitch link inclination on thrust, power, flpa-lag-pitch mode frequencies and inplane damping are examined. Pitch link at trailing edge location in chordwise direction has influence on aeroelastic stability of the rotor. Also, the pitch link with negative inclination angle makes inplane damping increase.