ERF European Rotorcraft Forum
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Versatile offline simulation tool for systems design
No full textAbstract For dual pilot configuration, Active Side-Stick Units (ASSU) technology can provide intuitive tactile cueing in the cockpit. Through ASSU, haptic cueing is expected to be an efficient and intuitive communication mode with the crew, especially enabling to electronically couple two side-sticks. Considering new generation of active inceptors providing such functionalities, the EFAICTS (Ergonomic impact and new Functions induced by Active Inceptor integration in CockpiTS) project started in December 2018. This project has received funding from the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N° 820884, in which Safran Electronics & Defense is the Topic Leader and ONERA the project coordinator. The overall EFAICTS concept is to define, develop and validate new ergonomic information and new functionalities provided by ASSU to enhance crew coordination and autopilot understanding through coupling functions between active sticks, and between active sticks and the flight control system, and haptic feedbacks on sticks. In order to design and ease the integration of these developments in a real time simulator, an offline simulation tool has been set-up, suited to meet the goals of the EFAICTS project, but also enabling the development of any system that could be implemented in the ONERA's PycsHel simulation bench. The paper focuses on the development of this offline simulation tool and the possibilities it offers. A short description of the upgrades performed on the simulation bench are proposed before detailing the models and functionalities built in the offline loop to simulate the real environment and enabling the design and pre validation of all features needed in the framework of the EFAICTS project. Some comparisons between offline computations and real time simulations are shown, and the benefits of this offline tool highlighted. Finally, some future expected or already planned developments are described, demonstrating its high versatility and showing how this tool is fitted to system development and integration
Parallel blade-vortex interaction on pitching airfoil
Get PDFA wind tunnel test campaign was conducted to study the effects of parallel blade-vortex interaction on a retreating rotor blade, in particular in relation to the possible triggering of stall. A tandem configuration was succesfully used, with an upstream airfoil model which was impulsively pitched to generate a vortex, that subsequently interacted with a downstream NACA 23012 airfoil, representing the blade. Different conditions of angle of attack of the blade and relative trajectory of the vortex were studied. PIV measurements were taken to characterise the vortex and to investigate the flow on the suction side of the blade model during the BVI. The results show an effect of the vortex approach on a separated flow region in the case of high angle of attack of the blade. Preliminary test with the blade model oscillating have been performed, to simulate the pitching motion experienced by an actual rotor blade
A 10 year retrospective and look ahead at the use of sound and visualisations for stakeholder engagement and understanding perceptions of disruptive technologies
Get PDFOriginally conceived and developed to inform the design of some of the world’s best arts and culture venues, over the past 10+ years, Arup SoundLab has also been used to create sound demonstrations that simulate and gauge response to environmental sound. Sound demonstrations combine aural and visual simulations to enable clients, designers, major stakeholders and the general public to experience and better understand sound. They provide robust objective information to support decision making and help shape better outcomes for all. SoundLab has been used to inform the design of vertiport infrastructure; to assess annoyance and possible health impacts of novel noise sources; to inform local and international policy on noise; and to provide information on the early prototyping of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) vehicles. These applications are described in the paper, including a recent pilot study for the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The EASA study provided insight into people’s response to AAM noise impacts, indicating that, in general, annoyance from AAM vehicles could be higher than for other transport modes, which may have implications for planning and legislation for AAM noise. As AAM applications broaden, auralisation and visualisation processes are being developed to facilitate understanding of the multi-faceted AAM planning, permitting and design processes. The immersive experience provides information that is valuable to the various parties involved. These include electric aircraft manufacturers to support understanding of evolving designs; policy makers and planning authorities who may have little knowledge or understanding of these novel noise sources; and airspace designers
Pitch control optimisation of tiltrotor aircraft
Get PDFAn investigation into the effects of rotary-wing and fixed-wing control gearings for tiltrotor aircraft was undertaken. The work investigated the effects of different cyclic and elevator gearings (both prescribed and optimised) on the longitudinal trim behaviour through the conversion regime of flight. The numerical simulations were performed for the XV-15 tiltrotor aircraft using an in-house aeromechanics code. This was coupled to a genetic algorithm to perform the optimisation studies. The findings show the control gearings must be selected carefully to maximise the conversion space and that the gearings can be optimised to meet different objective function requirements of the trim parameters. Fixed-wing control was found to be complimentary at lower airspeeds to help reduce excessive stick and cyclic inputs
Challenges and opportunities offered by flight certification of rotorcraft by simulation
Get PDFNewly developed aircraft must obtain a type certificate from the responsible aviation regulatory authority. This certificate testifies that the type of aircraft meets the safety requirements set by the authority. The compliance demonstration itself is the lengthiest and most expensive part of the certification process. The driving factor for the cost and duration of the compliance demonstration is the amount of ground and flight testing required. Moreover, certain certification flight test activities, particularly those involving demonstrations of control system or engine failures, can be classified as high-risk in terms of flight safety. The ROtorcraft Certification by Simulation (RoCS) project aims to explore the possibilities, limitations, and guidelines for best practices for the application of flight simulation to demonstrate compliance to the airworthiness regulations related to helicopters and tiltrotors. The paper presents the main objectives of the project and then introduces to some of the approaches that will be employed to achieve these goals
The stability augmentation system for a helicopter landing on a vessel deck
No full textThe paper presents part of the results obtained in the HELIMARIS project (”Modification of an optionally piloted helicopter for maritime mission performance”) led by PZL Swidnik in cooperation with Warsaw University of Technology and CTO. In the paper, the automatic stability and augmentation system for helicopter landing on the moving vessel is presented. The model of the helicopter developed and evaluated in FLIGHTLAB software is using for analysis and synthesis of the control system algorithm. The simulation test on the system performances and robustness on the helicopter weight configuration as well as flight, environment and technical conditions are presented and discussed
Development and initial hover testing of the Mach scaled rotor test rig MERIT
Get PDFThe first part of this paper shows the development of the rotor test rig MERIT, designed and built at the Institute of Helicopter Technology, Technical University of Munich, Germany. It includes insight into mechanical component design, such as the rotor head, rotor blade, blade attachment, and swashplate as well as the measurement and data acquisition system architecture in the rotating and stationary frames with regard to the most restrictive design target, which is dynamic stall investigation in forward flight conditions. Test results show that the critical components’ tensile strengths and eigenfrequencies meet the requirements. Furthermore, calibration results for the rotor load measuring cells are given. The second part focuses on hover tests, displaying the AREA rotor´s polar measurement results for power and thrust up to 12_ collective pitch and at 550 to 800rpm. A comparison of these whirl test results with free flight measurements show very good compliance with the power and thrust values of one AREA rotor in flettner configuration on the AREA drone
MBSE approach for conceptual design of hybrid electric VTOL aircraft
No full textIn this study, it is ensured that the conceptual design cycle and sizing studies of the aircraft are carried out in accordance with customer and design requirements by using model-based systems engineering methods (MBSE). It is aimed to handle conceptual aircraft design process with MBSE approach while also creating a link between inhouse design tools and MBSE tools. Firstly, the aircraft mission profile and top-level requirements are determined based on customer requirements derived from literature survey. According to these top-level requirements and technology assessment, the aircraft design concept was decided as lift-cruise configuration. The concept design cycle is defined by the systems engineering approach. In conceptual design process, constraint analysis and sizing studies are mainly performed using inhouse design tools scripted with Matlab/Python environment. In the study, requirements analysis, functional analysis and allocation, design synthesis and requirement verification are performed, respectively. A link has been established between Cameo, which includes SysML models, and MATLAB, which includes sizing algorithms. Thanks to this link, requirements verification is created, an iterative design cycle. Verification of requirements are done with sizing results of candidate aircraft subsystems generated as a results of design synthesis. As a result of study, MBSE approach satisfies the traceability and generalization of the aircraft design process when compared to traditional design approach
The RACER: manufacturing and testing
Get PDFThe RACER represents a demonstrator of an innovative and unique high-speed rotorcraft which is developed at Airbus Helicopters in the frame of the European CleanSky2 initiative in co-operation with multiple research, development, and manufacturing partners all over Europe. The RACER is planned to have its first flight by mid of 2022. This paper first gives a brief global introduction of the high-speed concept, highlighting the main outstanding characteristics in terms of mission performance, aerodynamics ad structures. Furthermore, an overview of the airframe structural composition is presented with a special focus on the basic structural arrangement of the three main components of the aircraft: the joined wings, the tail and empennage, and the main fuselage as largest integrative element of the vehicle. The main component`s description includes an insight on design and production details, as well as testing and substantiation approaches and addresses some of the major innovation topics. Some pictures reflect the assembly and production status at the date of the paper submissio
Practical considerations in rotor design optimisation studies
Get PDFThe present study demonstrates the application of an adjoint harmonic balance optimisation framework applied to the AH-64A blade. This framework allows for efficient optimisation of unsteady rotor flows whilst maintaining the fidelity of the Navier-Stokes equations. An analysis of the optimised rotor blade is presented, including the key design features that contribute to the performance benefits in each of the examined design conditions. The computational methodology and optimisation setup are analysed based on the impact on the final planform shape. The main areas of investigation include the interac tion between the treatment of rotor solidity and trim state, and the employed parameterisation process as well as the impact of solution fidelity on the optimal shape. The employed methodology leads to significant performance benefits, however, the present analysis shows that there is potential for further improvement