C. Mazzucchelli, F.T. Wilson

The paper describes how major aerodynamic targets for the EH-101 helicopter have been accomplished by a joint approach combining the resources of two companies in the "Single Site Concept" The fact that collaboration in development was a necessity, influenced by the expectation of time and cost savings associated with the reduced number of tests and components required in a combined operation, lead to the conclusion that a joint flight test development activity would be better than separate programmes and "Single Site" operation was conceived. The first pre-production version of the EH-101 Helicopter, PPl, was transferred to Cascina Costa from Yeovil in December 1989, and the first flight test development period was conducted on this airfield, sharing the activity with the Italian made PP2 version. Specialists from both companies worked together on each aircraft to understand and attack the difficulties shown by the initial flights where several topics of aerodynamic concern were identified. The aim of the aerodynamic development program was to optimize the aircraft as an integrated machine with the main and tail rotors, air frame and engines working effectively together throughout the flight envelope including, sideways/rear wards flight and high forward speeds. Areas to be considered were performance in hover and forward flight as well as handling (including aerodynamically induced vibrations), etc. During the initial development period some key aerodynamic related issues were prominent, such as shuffle, pitch up and performance. The paper describes the systematic approach to the solution of these important problem areas, using scale model testing in the wind tunnels of both companies complimented by C. F. D. (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and simulation codes followed by confirmatory flight tests. Single Site operation has undoubtably accelerated the aerodynamic development process and successful results are reported.

17th European Rotorcraft Forum 1991, Berlin

Conference Paper

englisch

21,0 x 29,7 cm, 10 Seiten

DGLR-Bericht, 1991, 1991-08, 17th European Rotorcraft Forum Proceedings; S.55-64; 1991; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth e.V., Bonn

NA

helicopters, eh-101 helicopter, eh 101 helicopter

Bestellbar

1991