Topic 10

Malaysian Institute of Aviation Technology
TOPIC 10
ROTARY WING AERODYNAMICS
The study of rotary wing
aerodynamic.
☺ Learning Outcome
☼ Acquire knowledge on:
◊ Helicopter nomenclature.
◊ Rotary wing terminology.
◊ Types of rotary wing flight.
◊ The effect of Torque.
◊ Ground effect.
◊ Autorotation.
◊ Helicopter flight control.
◊ Types of Tail rotor systems.
TOPIC 10
☺ Introduction to Rotary wing aircraft
☼ commonly referred to as
helicopters.
☼ derives both lift and
propulsive power from
horizontally revolving
engine-driven blades or
rotors.
☼ is capable of ascending
and descending vertically.
TOPIC 10
☺ Helicopter major components
☼ Fuselage or cabin
◊ space to carry passenger, baggage, cargo and crew.
☼ Airframe
◊ houses various
components or where
components are attached.
☼ Powerplant or engine
◊ provide power or thrust to
the helicopter.
☼ Transmission
◊ transmit the power from the
engine to the main rotor.
TOPIC 10
☼ Main Rotor
◊ provides aerodynamic
forces that make the
helicopter fly.
☼ Tail Rotor system
◊ provide some type of anti-
torque system to prevent the
helicopter from turning due
to torque.
☼ Landing Gear
◊ can be skids, wheels or floats for the helicopter to land on
ground or water surfaces.
TOPIC 10
☺ Aerodynamic forces - definition
☼ Lift - the force required to
support the weight of the
helicopter.
☼ Thrust - the force required
to overcome the drag
☼ Weight – the force that
opposes the lift.
☼ Drag – the force that
opposes the thrust.
TOPIC 10
☺ Rotary wing terminology
☼ Tip path – the
circular path made
by the tips of rotor
blades.
☼ Tip Path Plane –
the plane within
which the tips of
rotor blades travel parallel to the plane of rotation
which acts through the rotor head. A pilot may alter
this plane through movement of the cyclic control.
TOPIC 10
☼ Axis of Rotation –
the line through
the rotor head at
right angles to the
plane of rotation.
The blades
actually rotate
around this axis.
☼ Shaft Axis – the line that is aligned with the rotor shaft
or mast. Coincide with axis of rotation when the plane
of rotation is perpendicular to the axis.
TOPIC 10
☼ Disc Area – the area contained within the tip path
plane. In flight, this area is not constant since it is
affected by the coning angle of the blades.
☼ Coning Angle – the
angle between the
feathering axis and
the plane of rotation
or may be defined as
the angle between
the feathering axis
and the tip path
plane.
TOPIC 10
☼ Chord Line – the line between the blade’s leading
edge and its trailing edge.
☼ Blade Angle – the
angle between the
chord line of the blade
and the plane of
rotation. May be
altered by the pilot
through movement of
the collective lever or
the cyclic control.
◊ Also known as ‘pitch angle’.
TOPIC 10
☼ Angle of Attack – the angle between the chord line of
the blade and the relative airflow or wind.
☼ Induced flow – the total
mass of air forced down
by the action of the rotor.
◊ The rotor blade
experiences two airflows:
⌂ Vector A-B, Vr – caused by
rotation.
⌂ Vector C-A – caused by
induced flow.
⌂ Create a resultant (relative) airflow, vector C-B, to produce Inflow
angle between the plane of rotation and the resultant airflow.
◊ Inflow angle and angle of attack are inversely proportional.
TOPIC 10
☺ Types of Flight
☼ Hovering Flight
◊ the path of the tips of
the rotor blades is
parallel to the ground.
◊ Lift and thrust act
straight up, weight and
drag act straight down.
◊ The total (resultant) of
lift and thrust must
equal that of weight
and drag.
TOPIC 10
☼ Vertical Flight in no-wind
◊ the lift and thrust forces both act
vertically upwards.
◊ Weight and drag both act into
the opposite direction, i.e.
vertically down.
◊ If lift and thrust are less than
weight and drag, the helicopter
descends vertically.
◊ If lift and thrust are greater than
weight and drag the helicopter
climbs vertically.
TOPIC 10
☼ Forward Flight
◊ the tip-path plane is tilted
forwards, tilting the total of
lift and thrust forwards from
the vertical.
◊ The resultant force split into
2 components:
⌂ the lift acting vertically
upwards and
⌂ the thrust acting
horizontally into the
direction of flight.
TOPIC 10
☼ Forward Flight
◊ During straight and level,
unaccelerated forward
flight, the lift equals the
weight and the thrust
equals the drag.
⌂ If the lift exceeds the
weight, the helicopter
climbs.
⌂ If the lift is less than the weight, the helicopter descends.
⌂ If the thrust exceeds the drag, the helicopter speeds up.
⌂ if the thrust is less than the drag, it slows down.
TOPIC 10
☼ Rearward Flight
rearward, tilting the lift and
thrust vector rearwards.
◊ the thrust component is
rearwards and the drag is
forwards, the exact opposite
to forward flight.
◊ lift and weight act into the same directions as during
forward flight.
⌂ The lift component is still straight up and the weight straight
down.
TOPIC 10
☼ Sideward Flight
sideward into the desired flight
direction, thus tilting the total lift
and thrust vector sideward.
⌂ the vertical (or lift) component is
straight up and the weight is
straight down.
⌂ the horizontal (or thrust)
component now acts sideward with
the drag acting into the opposite
direction.
TOPIC 10
☼ Torque
◊ The tendency of the fuselage
to rotate in the opposite
direction to the main rotor.
⌂ This phenomenon follows
what Newton’s third law of
motion states; “To every
action there is an equal and
opposite reaction.”
⌂ The torque effect affecting the fuselage is a direct result of the
engine power turning the main rotor.
TOPIC 10
☼ Torque
◊ The greater the power on the
rotor head, the greater the
torque on the helicopter
fuselage.
◊ To overcome the torque, an
auxiliary rotor, usually referred
to as tail rotor, is fitted at the
end of the tail boom.
⌂ produces thrust into the direction opposite to the torque effect
developed by the main rotor.
TOPIC 10
☼ Ground Effect
◊ The results of denser air
being built up as a
cushion between the
ground and the helicopter
when hovering close to
the ground.
◊ formed by the movement of the rotor blades which displace
air downwards faster than it can escape from underneath
the helicopter.
◊ effective up to an altitude of approx. half the rotor diameter.
◊ the helicopter leaves this ground air cushion as soon as a
speed over ground of approx. 3 to 5 knots is reached.
TOPIC 10
☼ Autorotation
◊ An emergency landing
technique in the case of
an engine failure.
◊ Applied in flight when the
main rotor is driven only
by the relative wind action
and no engine power is
supplied.
⌂ The helicopter transmission gear is designed in such a way
that the main rotor system is automatically disengaged from
the engine as soon as the engine is stopped.
TOPIC 10
☼ Autorotation
◊ The helicopter starts moving downwards due to its weight
and in this situation the airflow is directed upwards through
the rotor and this enables the rotor to continue turning.
◊ The autorotative region (or
driving region) is the part of
the rotor blade plane between
approx. 25 % to 70 % of the
radius out from the centre (i.e.
from the rotor head).
⌂ Aerodynamic forces along this
portion of the blades tend to
speed up the blade rotation.
TOPIC 10
8. Autorotation
◊ During vertical autorotation,
central 25 % of the rotor blade
plane tend to slow down the
blade rotation due to drag
because it operates above its
stall angle. This section of the
blades is referred to as the
stall region.
◊ Outer 30 % of the rotor blades is referred to as the propeller
region (or driven region). A small drag force can be observed
which tends to slow down the tip section of the blades.
◊ During forward flight, these regions move towards the left of
the rotor plane.
TOPIC 10
☺ Helicopter Flight Controls
☼ In general helicopters
have 3 basic controls
to control its flight path.
◊ Collective pitch control.
◊ Cyclic pitch control.
◊ Anti-torque control.
TOPIC 10
☼ Swash plate
◊ also called ’ control orbit,
located within the main rotor
head arrangement.
◊ Generally consists of:
⌂ two circular or angular plates
(or stars) fitted horizontally
one above the other
separated by a ball bearing
arrangement that allows
horizontal, i.e. circular,
movement between them.
TOPIC 10
☼ Swash plate
◊ the lower plate, referred as
the stationary or non-rotating
plate, has the ability to move
up and down and/or tilt in any
given direction.
◊ The vertical position input of
the lower plate is through the
collective control.
◊ The tilt position input of the
plate is through the cyclic
control.
TOPIC 10
☼ Swash plate
◊ Actual vertical movement of
the swash plate depends on
where the pitch horn is
attached to the blade.
⌂ When the pitch horn is attached
to the leading edge of the rotor
blade the swash plate must
move up to increase the blade
angle.
⌂ When the pitch horn is attached to the trailing edge of the
blades the swash plate must move down to increase the blade
angle.
TOPIC 10
1. Collective Pitch Control
◊ to change the altitude and/or
the speed of the helicopter.
◊ Used to increase the main
rotor blade pitch at all points
of the rotor plane of rotation
and increases or decreases
the total rotor thrust.
◊ Changes in collective pitch:
⌂ In a hover - different height of the helicopter above the ground.
⌂ In forward flight - change the amount of thrust available that
can lead to either change in altitude or speed.
TOPIC 10
☼ Collective control device
◊ Usually a lever located on the
left side of the pilot’s seat.
◊ pivots from the aft end and
moves up and down (e.g. like a
hand-brake of a car).
◊ Pulling up moves the swash
plate vertically so that all rotor
blades obtain the same
increase in blade angle.
◊ Pushing down will decreases
the blade angle to all blades.
TOPIC 10
☼ Throttle control
◊ an increase in all blade angles
increases the main rotor drag and
may decrease the rotor revolutions
per minute (rotor rpm).
◊ a correlating unit (a cam-link
arrangement) is fitted between the
collective control and the throttle
control to maintain rotor rpm by
automatically increase the power
whenever the collective control lever
is pulled up and decreases power
when the collective lever is pushed
down.
TOPIC 10
o many helicopter collective levers
are equipped with a twist-grip type
throttle at the end of the lever for
fine-tuning.
o If the correlator or governor system
does not maintain the desired rpm,
the throttle has to be moved
manually with the twist grip in
order to maintain rpm.
o Twisting the throttle outboard
increases rpm, twisting it inboard
decreases rpm.
TOPIC 10
◊ Some turbine helicopters have the throttles mounted on the
overhead panel or on the floor in the cockpit.
TOPIC 10
☼ Cyclic pitch control
◊ to give directional control of
the helicopter.
◊ accomplished by tilting the
tip-path plane of the main
rotor to move the thrust of the
rotor and the lift, pulling the
helicopter in the direction of
the tip-path plane.
◊ perform the functions via a
swash plate arrangement.
TOPIC 10
◊ The cyclic pitch control lever may be mounted vertically
between the pilot’s knees or on a teetering bar from a single
cyclic located in the center of the helicopter.
◊ The cyclic can pivot in all directions.
TOPIC 10
◊ control lever is moved
forward - the disc tilts
forward thereby moving the
helicopter forward.
◊ Control lever is moved
rearward - the disc tilts aft
moving the helicopter aft.
◊ control lever moved from one side to the other - move the
helicopter sidewards.
⌂ main rotor tilt is accomplished by changing the pitch of each
individual rotor blade 90° prior to the displacement of the cyclic
stick (due to gyroscopic precession).
TOPIC 10
◊ Sometimes the
cyclic linkage of the
main rotor is
connected to a
horizontal stabilizer
located at the tail of
the helicopter.
⌂ In cruise flight, the normal tendency for helicopter tail to be high
and nose to be low is due to main rotor thrust.
⌂ the stabiliser keeps the tail down in order to maintain a levelled
flight attitude.
TOPIC 10
◊ during take-off - desirable
to fly in a nose-down
attitude in order to build up
speed by obtaining
maximum thrust from the
main rotor.
⌂ the stabiliser may be used
to allow the tail to come
up, allowing the maximum
thrust to be obtained.
◊ During landing - important that the nose is allowed to come
up with the assistance of the movable stabiliser.
TOPIC 10
o Helicopters with fixed
horizontal stabiliser has an
inverted shaped airfoil to
force the tail with a spoiler
strip for downward flares.
o In some of the newer
helicopters the stabiliser is
controlled electronically in
order to immediately react
on changes of the
helicopter’s airspeed and
attitude.
TOPIC 10
☼ Anti-torque control
◊ main purpose is to
provide the required
thrust to overcome the
main rotor torque and
also enables hover turn
capability and balanced
forward flight.
◊ operated by anti-torque pedals, also referred to as the
rudder pedal, to change the pitch of the tail rotor which is
used to oppose the torque of the main rotor.
(European-made helicopters have main rotors that turn in the clockwise
direction while US-made helicopters, the main rotors usually turn
counter-clockwise.)
TOPIC 10
☼ Heading control
◊ The thrust of the tail rotor
depends on the pitch angle
of the tail rotor blades.
⌂ A positive pitch angle tends
to move the tail to the right.
⌂ A negative pitch angle
moves the tail to the left.
⌂ A zero pitch angle produces no thrust.
◊ When the right pedal moved forward from neutral position,
the tail rotor either has a negative pitch angle or a small
positive pitch angle.
⌂ The more forward the larger will be the negative pitch angle.
TOPIC 10
☼ Heading control
◊ When the left pedal is
moved forward from the
neutral position - the
positive pitch angle of the
tail rotor increases until it
becomes maximum with
full forward displacement
of the left pedal.
◊ During cruising flight, if the right pedal is displaced forward
from neutral - the tail rotor does not produce sufficient thrust
to overcome the torque effect of the main rotor and the nose
yaws to the right.
TOPIC 10
☼ Heading control
◊ In the neutral position - the
tail rotor has a medium
positive pitch angle and its
thrust approximately equals
the torque of the main rotor
to maintain a constant
heading in level flight.
◊ If the left pedal is in a forward position - the tail rotor has a

high positive pitch angle that produce thrust needed to
overcome torque effect during cruising flight and so the
helicopter yaws to the left.
TOPIC 10
☼ Heading control
◊ The relative positions of the
pedals required to
counteract torque depend
upon the amount of power
being used at any time.
◊ when less power being
used, the greater the
requirement for forward displacement of the right pedal. The
greater the power being used, the greater the forward
displacement of the left pedal.
TOPIC 10
☼ Heading control
◊ The capability for tail
rotors to produce thrust
to the left is necessary,
because during
autorotation the drag of
the transmission tends
to yaw the nose to the
left, or in the same
direction the main rotor
is turning.
TOPIC 10
☺ Helicopter Flight Controls
☼ Tail rotor systems
◊ Some types of helicopter balance the main rotor torque by
using two or more rotors while others eliminate the torque
by applying a tip-jet drive concept.
◊ The types of tail rotor system available are:
1. a conventional tail rotor
2. a fan in the fin (fenestron)
3. a fan in the boom (NOTAR –NO TAil Rotor).
TOPIC 10
☼ Conventional tail rotor systems
◊ requires relatively little power
and produces good yaw control.
◊ contributes significantly to yaw
damping and directional stability
in forward flight.
◊ major disadvantage when on the
ground, a tail rotor can be
dangerous to people and to itself
if swung into trees, fence posts
or wires.
◊ Large helicopters overcome this problem by carrying their
tail rotors well above the ground.
TOPIC 10
☼ BO 105 Helicopter Tail rotor
◊ a semi rigid two-bladed rotor
with a central flapping hinge.
◊ direction of rotation is counter-
clockwise (pushing--type), seen
from the tail rotor transmission.
◊ located on the left side of the
tail rotor transmission at the
upper end of the vertical fin,
looking in flight direction.
◊ the tail rotor axis is tilted 3° downward (inclination of the tail
rotor axis) and 4 inches rearward (back sweep of the tail
rotor axis) to compensate gyroscopic effects.
TOPIC 10
☼ Fenestron System
◊ has a structure surrounding the
tail rotor which protects it and
prevents people from being
accidentally struck by a blade.
☼ EC 135 Helicopter Tail rotor:
◊ a shrouded fan-in-fin rotor
(fenestron concept) which is
installed in a duct in the fenestron
structure.
◊ installed on the RH side of the
helicopter.
◊ generates the thrust required by changing the pitch angle of
the tail rotor blades.
TOPIC 10
☼ EC 135 Helicopter Tail rotor:
◊ direction of rotation is counter
clockwise when viewed head-
on from the right-hand side of
the helicopter.
◊ equipped with 10 unevenly-
spaced rotor blades and this
arrangement produces
overlapping of the acoustic
vibrations, thereby providing a
lower tail rotor noise level.
TOPIC 10
☼ NOTAR (no tail rotor) System
◊ an enclosed variable pitch
fan driven by the main
rotor transmission, a tail
boom with circulation
control slots called Coanda
slots, a direct jet thruster
and a horizontal stabiliser
with two vertical stabilisers.
◊ In hover flight, the circulation of air through Coanda slots
along the tail boom energise the downwash flow from the
main rotor that result in lift in a horizontal direction (Coanda
effect) and provides the majority of the required main rotor
anti-torque.
TOPIC 10
◊ the remaining anti-torque
and maneuverability for yaw
control and directional
changes is provide by direct
jet thruster.
◊ In forward flight, the vertical
stabilisers in conjunction
with the direct-jet thruster
provide the required anti-
torque and directional
control.
TOPIC 10
◊ The advantages of NOTAR
System are:
1. No hull damage from tail
rotor-related accidents.
2. No drive shafts, hanger
bearing or 90-degree gear
boxes.
3. No dramatic center-of -
gravity shift with loss of gear
box.
4. Reduced pilot workload.
5. Less sensitive to wind direction.
TOPIC 10
6. Enhanced safety in
confined areas.
7. No third-party liability from
walking into an almost
invisible tail rotor.
8. Easy access to all
components.
9. Polypropylene fan blades
are FOD (foreign object
damage) tolerant.
10. Flyable with loss of
NOTAR fan drive.

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Malaysian Institute of Aviation Technology

◊ If the left pedal is in a forward position - the tail rotor has a

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