Overview of Engineering Processes in the Exploratory Development of Main Rotor Blade Technology for Multipurpose Utility Helicopters

As military organizations internationally assess life extension and replacement actions for current legacy helicopter fleets and next generation rotorcraft are under development, novel rotor system technologies are required to fulfill challenging low-speed and high-speed flight envelopes and mission requirements. Proposed by the Department of National Defense (DND) and in collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), a TTCP AER CP13A.1 Collaborative Project (CP) has been initiated supporting multi-nation development of numerical methods for optimizing and designing next generation main rotor blades. Four NRC laboratories collaborated to assemble a data set comprising design, performance, aerodynamics, structures, dynamics, and flight sciences elements. Acquired through research and testing, this information provides reference, technical, and engineering knowledge to support aero-structural model definition, model output validation, and the numerical optimization process development.