Autors: Todorov, M. D., Panayotov, F. K., Dobrev I., Massouh F.
Title: Experimental study of the impact of the number of blades on the profile drag of UAV helicopter rotors in hover
Keywords: UAV, Hover performance

Abstract: Due to the motion of tip and root vortices of helicopter rotor blades and the inevitable blade-vortex interactions in multi-blade rotors, the profile drag of all individual blades is increased, when compared to the absence of any blade-vortex interaction. Different factors like the speed of rotation of the rotor and the number of blades greatly impact the magnitude of the profile drag increase. This effect is additionally worsened with the low- Reynolds operational conditions of small-sized UAV helicopter rotors. In addition, there is an initial upward motion of the tip vortex and thus there are three scenarios for the blade-vortex encounter, depending on whether the vortex emitted by the previous blade is still above, on or below the plane of rotation of the blades. All those uncertainties motivated the authors to carry- out this present experimental study. The results are shown in a convenient form.

References

    Issue

    International Scientific Conference on Aeronautics, Automotive and Railway Engineering and Technologies (BulTrans-2020) 10-13 September 2020, Sozopol, Bulgaria, 2020, Bulgaria, IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, ISSN 757-8981

    Вид: публикация в национален форум с межд. уч., публикация в издание с импакт фактор, индексирана в Scopus