An Actuator-Disc Analysis of Helicopter Wake Geometry and the Corresponding Blade Response

Abstract
It is assumed that a helicopter rotor in forward flight can be represented by a flat plate. Expressions are developed relating the pressure field to the steady aerodynamic thrust and moment and the time-dependent flapping moment. This pressure field satisfies the zero pressure condition at the center and edge of the disc, the first and second harmonic variation in lift, and Laplace's equation. A computer program was written to calculate the velocity field and streamlines. Two sample cases corresponding to high- and low- speed conditions for the UH-1 rotor were chosen for computation. Both cases showed the tip-vortex phenomenon. In order to examine the sensitivity of blade load calculations to wake geometry, an existing airloads program was modified to accept the computed wake geometry. A comparison of results of this modified program with experimental data indicated that the effect of distorted wake is greater at low advance ratios than at high advance ratios. The reduced sensitivity at high advance ratios may be due to the wake being blown farther behind the rotor and/or the predominance of other aeroelastic parameters.

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