Aeroelastic analysis of a shipboard helicopter rotor with ship motions during engagement and disengagement operations

An aeroelastic simulation of a shipboard helicopter rotor with ship motions during engagement and disengagement operations is investigated to explore the coupled dynamic behavior between the rotor and the ship. A finite element analysis based on a moderate deflection beam model is employed to capture the flap, lag and torsion deflections of the rotor blade. The ship is treated as a six-degree-of-freedom rigid body. By using the Hamiltonʼs principle, system equations of motion are derived based on the generalized force formulation. The responses agree well with the test data of the rotor blade droop stop impact and the transient aeroelastic response of the shipboard teetering model rotor. Parametric investigations illustrate that the ship pitch motion has significant influence on the maximum negative displacement of the blade tip. Additional over 25% increase of the tip deflection can be introduced by the ship pitch motion. The aerodynamic and inertial couplings between the ship motion and the rotor have significantly nonlinear influence on the transient aeroelastic response. Both terms should be taken into account in the coupled helicopter–ship dynamics model.