Using Tools Developed for Wind Turbines for Investigating the Aeroelastic Behaviour of the Rotors of Rotary-Wing Airplanes

Abstract

Rotor blades of an autorotating helicopter or a gyrocopter work very similarly to the rotor blades of a wind turbine in skew wind. In this publication we present the results of a multiple analysis of a rotor blade of a rotary-wing airplane, but the analyses were performed with a software package developed for investigation of wind turbine blades. The results of several analyses seem to be valid for rotary-wing airplanes in some special, but very important cases, and can be useful for more detailed investigation. It was stated, that the fact leads to uninterpretable numerical solutions, that the angle between the undisturbed airflow and the Tip Path Plane is much lower in case of helicopters and gyrocopters than by wind turbines in most operational conditions.