Review of Rotary‐Wing V/STOL Dynamic and Aeroelastic Problems

Rotary‐wing and propeller instabilities are reviewed with three objectives: 1) to increase insight into the sources of prop‐rotor problems, 2) to catalogue a variety of instabilities to which prop‐rotors are subject and 3) to suggest several important subjects for research in this general area. Thc first objective is approached by contrasting prop‐rotor static aeroelastic problems with those encountered with fixed‐wing aircraft; the second by a selective literature review which groups the dynamic phenomena of interest according to the kind of differential equation which characterizes them; and the third attempts to anticipate sources of difficulty either with new configurations or in flight regimes for which we presently have very limited experience.