Optimize shape of helicopter to improve quality aerodynamic

[caominh2409]

Hello everyone

I have a project in college: optimize shape of helicopter to improve quality aerodynamic, what is component usually changed in design ??? (Ex: chamfer, change ratio length of body and blade, change profil...)

Thank you for attention

[Eric Hunt]

If there was an optimum, don't you think that it would have been in use by now, rather than being a random thought by a poster on a wannabe's website?

 

The designers choose the type of operation - high-speed VIP, medium speed general purpose, hover-speed longliner, whatever. The blades, engines, transmissions, cabin capacities, shell shapes, all flow from there.

 

There is no optimum, because it would not suit some part of the industry.

[RisePilot]

I disagree. I would go as far to say there are nearly no helicopter “designers”. We have engineers of course, but as far as marrying form & function – have you seen the industry offering of the past 20 years to present day?

Only Airbus, Cabri and Kopter seem to even have any interest in their products designs. The new Bell 505 case in point; it’s a “festival” of afterthought.

The OP noted this is a university project. I think any design school/bureau input into helicopter design would be welcome to the helicopter. This piss-poor industry surely isn’t going to spend any time/money on this issue.

[Eric Hunt]

Rise, have a look at the differences between a Kaman, a B407, an S76 and a Chinook. Do you think any of those were NOT designed to fit a specific niche, and optimised for that role?

 

Prettiness is appreciated, but not necessary. But the 76 sure is pretty.

[RisePilot]

The helicopters you note above have designs ranging from 42-62 years old; I'm quite certain we can do better now - and would be interested to see new design elements. Many materials and processes available today hadn't even been dreamt up back then.

 

Yes, an S76 looks OK, but that's from 1977 and is the newest in the above list.

 

A Bell 412 is good at lifting a tree from here and dropping it over there, but why not better the design/aerodynamics/ergonomics?

[Hobie]

Is this a design class or an engineering class? As mentioned helicopters are designed for specific function. Skycrane might be the most efficient as there no frills that would detract from its intended mission of lifting.

 

More importantly, the question to a OEM is simply,"If I spend $$ to gain incremental aerodynamic efficiency, will it sell more units?". That question has been answered by the market already. Helis are sold for function over form. They are very costly to buy and operate. Aerodynamic efficiency gains are as a percentage minimal compared to the energy to hover a brick!.

 

Look at airlines where the upturned wingtips help them save $$ in fuel by reducing drag. If you can come up with such an revolutionary idea that saves operating costs on helicopters, you will make bank.

 

So don't focus on just aesthetic design, but operating costs in your efforts.

[takefootoff]

Maybe for some inspiration, take a look at Van Horn, with their main and tail rotor blades and BLR with their fast fin system.

[r22butters]

I remember once at the Safety Course a dude asked why the R22 was so ugly. The answer was, it was designed for aerodynamics not looks.

[chris pochari]

ichris will have your questions answered in no time! I have found him to be an invaluable resource Unfortunately my brain does not contain the necessary information you want. I've wanted to ask this question myself, now I don't have to start a new thread! I think it is true that "design" plays a very small role in helicopter manufacturing, although the H160 was "designed" by Peugeot car designers. But anyway if this is a "wannabe" forum like some here say, you mind as well ask a landscaper about this.

https://www.formtrends.com/peugeot-design-lab-designs-airbus-h160-helicopter/

[Eric Hunt]

Nice pretty video of a design concept. The gull-wing doors might be a problem if the rotor is turning.

 

And the ability for passengers to watch a movie in flight - apart from trips to oil rigs, how many helicopter trips go for 2+ hours? More efficient to go in a plank, and anyway only a kid born since 2000 would be so screen-addicted as to not look out the window at the view.

 

Should we hold our breath, waiting for something like this to emerge? Will a Vietnam-era person have retired by then? Will Butters finally get a call-up?

[r22butters]

Nice pretty video of a design concept. The gull-wing doors might be a problem if the rotor is turning.

 

And the ability for passengers to watch a movie in flight - apart from trips to oil rigs, how many helicopter trips go for 2+ hours? More efficient to go in a plank, and anyway only a kid born since 2000 would be so screen-addicted as to not look out the window at the view.

 

Should we hold our breath, waiting for something like this to emerge? Will a Vietnam-era person have retired by then? Will Butters finally get a call-up?

Eh, anymore I just let the machine get it. Which is where this is all heading anyway. Just robot pilots flying robot workers out to completely automated oi,...wind and solar farms (as the last drop of oil will be sucked out in a few years), so,...

 

Who's up for some soylent green on a cracker,...I'm buyin'.

[iChris]

Hello everyone

I have a project in college: optimize shape of helicopter to improve quality aerodynamic, what is component usually changed in design ??? (Ex: chamfer, change ratio length of body and blade, change profil...)

Thank you for attention

 

Your question is a little too broad to be answered sufficiently on any forum space. You’ll need to check some of the advanced textbooks along the University level. These textbooks cover aspects of design and include hundreds of references to technical papers/reports.

 

Principles of Helicopter Aerodynamics, 2^nd Edition

J. Gordon Leishman

 

Rotorcraft Aeromechanics

Wayne Johnson

 

Helicopter Performance, Stability, and Control

Raymond W. Prouty

 

Also check the NSAS report server that allows you to search by topic specific new areas on helicopter design. NASA is a resource commercial industry has used to access ground breaking technical research that has led to billions of dollars in commercial profits for those industries, mostly free of charge (tax payer funded). Cases in point, Carson Helicopters composite main rotor blades, BLR's FastFin, and Van Horn Aviation's composite tail rotor blades, all with NASA derived research. Links:

 

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

 

Virtually every flying vehicle in operation today has benefited in some way from NASA advancements, and the helicopter is no exception.

 

NASA research on tail-rotor effectiveness, that's how BLR's Fastfin STC was developed

 

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.

 

Think compromise, not so much optimize.

 

The design of any vehicle is an exercise in compromise, but this is probably truer in the case of a helicopter than of any other vehicle. In almost every decision, the designer must keep in mind that what is good for hover performance is bad for forward flight and what is good for forward flight is bad for hover. In no other vehicle will the relationship between empty weight and payload be so uncompromisingly one-to-one. In addition, the maximum speed limit of a 'pure' helicopter is apparently even more rigorously enforced by basic physical principles than was the 'sound barrier' that airplanes once faced. For these reasons, the helicopter designer cannot be said to be seeking the optimum design, but the 'least worse compromise'. What is said about serious gardeners is probably true about helicopter designers, their natural state is one of continuous frustration…

 

Raymond W. Prouty

Foreword; Military Helicopter Design Technology

 

The preliminary design of a new helicopter is a team effort between the designer, the aerodynamicist, and the weight engineer, with help from other specialists. The effort progresses in cycles of iteration, at the end of which the design converges into its final form, leaving each member of the design team more or less satisfied. The effort starts with a set of requirements established by the potential customer, by a marketing survey, or by some other means. The requirements that usually have the most influence on the design are:

 

1. Payload.

2. Range or endurance.

3. Critical hover or vertical climb condition.

4. Maximum speed.

5. Maximum maneuver load factor.

 

There are always design constraints, either formally stated or understood, that limit the design alternatives in some manner. Some of the most common involve:

 

1. Compliance with applicable safety standards.

2. Maximum disc loading.

3. Choice of engine from a list of approved engines.

4. Maximum physical size.

5. Maximum noise level.

6. Minimum one-engine-out performance.

7. Minimum autorotative landing capability.

 

If the new design is to be fairly conventional the initial steps can be programmed on a computer to yield a good starting configuration even before the designer puts a sheet of paper on his board…

 

Raymond W. Prouty

Preliminary Design; Helicopter Performance, Stability, and Control

 

Edited March 7, 2018 by iChris

[500E]

And they still don't make a comfortable seat

[TomPPL]

 

 

And they still don't make a comfortable seat

Seriously, maybe this is where the next innovation should be?

[iChris]

And they still don't make a comfortable seat

 

Seriously, maybe this is where the next innovation should be?

 

They do seats too…

 

In the 1980s, NASA developed special standards, which included NBP, to specify ways to design flight systems that support human health and safety. The neutral body posture (NBP) created from measurements of 12 people in the microgravity environment onboard Skylab.

 

In the beginning, safety trumped comfort in spacecraft designs for human space travel. Mihriban Whitmore, a manager in the Human Research Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, describes, “Early space capsules like Gemini and Apollo were small in size and had a seat-driven design where most of the flight activities were performed while the crew were strapped to their seats.”

 

The emphasis was on function, not form. In due time, however, the Agency devoted more attention and resources to understanding how a spacecraft could provide comfort as well as safety and function to astronauts. One of the first things NASA examined was the neutral body posture (NBP), or the posture the human body naturally assumes in microgravity.

 

NASA Space Flight Human Systems Standard NASA-STD-3001, all of NASA’s work on NBP has governed the development of everything from work areas in the ISS—such as the Cupola—to comfortable new car seats in vehicles here on Earth.

 

In 2005, scientists and engineers at Nissan Motor Company, which has US offices in Franklin, Tennessee, turned to NASA’s NBP research as a starting point for the development of a new driver’s seat for Nissan vehicles.

 

NASA Standards Inform Comfortable Car Seats