• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.612-619
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• 2010

In this paper, an elastomeric bearing for a helicopter rotor hub is designed using nonlinear finite element method. The elastomeric bearing is the main component of the helicopter rotor hub that acts as a hinge to three motions(flapping, lagging and pitching) of rotor blade. The elastomeric bearing consists of rubber and metal plates. The stiffness design of the elastomeric bearing is important because elastic deformation of rubber is served to hinge. Accordingly, the elastomeric bearing is designed to satisfy the stiffness requirements for rotor hub bearing. In this study, a FE model generation algorithm is developed and stiffness characteristic of a rubber plate is analyzed for an efficient design of the spherical elastomeric bearing. It is proven that the elastomeric bearing satisfies stiffness requirements of the spherical bearing for a helicopter rotor hub.