Rotorcraft Aeromechanics

Book excerpt: A rotorcraft is a class of aircraft that uses large-diameter rotating wings to accomplish efficient vertical take-off and landing. The class encompasses helicopters of numerous configurations (single main rotor and tail rotor, tandem rotors, coaxial rotors), tilting proprotor aircraft, compound helicopters, and many other innovative configuration concepts. Aeromechanics covers much of what the rotorcraft engineer needs: performance, loads, vibration, stability, flight dynamics, and noise. These topics include many of the key performance attributes and the often-encountered problems in rotorcraft designs. This comprehensive book presents, in depth, what engineers need to know about modelling rotorcraft aeromechanics. The focus is on analysis, and calculated results are presented to illustrate analysis characteristics and rotor behaviour. The first third of the book is an introduction to rotorcraft aerodynamics, blade motion, and performance. The remainder of the book covers advanced topics in rotary wing aerodynamics and dynamics.