Aeroelastic Response of Composite Helicopter Rotor with Random Material Properties

This study investigates the effect of uncertainty in composite material properties on the cross-sectional stiffness properties, natural frequencies, and aeroelastic responses of a composite helicopter rotor blade. The elastic moduli and Poisson’s ratio of the composite material are considered as random variables with a coefficient of variation of around 4%, which was taken from published experimental work. An analytical box beam model is used for evaluating blade cross-sectional properties. Aeroelastic analysis based on finite elements in space and time is used to evaluate the helicopter rotor blade response in forward flight. The stochastic cross-sectional and aeroelastic analyses are carried out with Monte Carlo simulations. It is found that the blade cross-sectional stiffness matrix elements show a coefficient of variation of about 6%. The nonrotating rotor blade natural frequencies show a coefficient of variation of around 3%. The impact of material uncertainty on rotating natural frequencies varies from that on nonrotating blade frequencies because of centrifugal stiffening. The propagation of material uncertainty into aeroelastic response causes large deviations, particularly in the higher-harmonic components that are critical for the accurate prediction of helicopter blade loads and vibration. The numerical results clearly show the need to consider randomness of composite material properties in the helicopter aeroelastic analysis.