Helicopter Preliminary Design
Helicopter Preliminary Design
A 7-seater mid-sized helicopter to be used for transportation was aimed. This design gives a good
room for a well-equipped 7 seats cabin and also comes with a skid landing gear just because of its simplicity
of operation. Using a skid landing gear makes it easy for a transport aircraft to land easily on many surfaces
even in an inoperable region. The design solution gives a maximum take-off weight of 3,400 Kg. The total
power requirement to fly this rotorcraft would be slightly above 578 kW and to meet its power a Turbomeca
Arriel-2C2 providing the rotorcraft with a maximum take-off power of 704 kW.
The design enables the reader to get an idea on the various parameters and the variables that the
preliminary design depends upon. There are comparisons shown when and where required together with
charts comprising of the actual calculations that were done during the design. As we know, that the rotor is
one of the principle components of a helicopter which enables it to stay in air, a complete aerodynamic
analysis to choose the airfoil for main rotor and tail rotor was performed using XFLR5 software. All the
variables where then understood which led to the selection of the most optimal airfoil for this design.
Performance charts are made from the calculated values and are added in the report wherever required.
They have been iterated several times to reach the most optimum values matching other conventional
helicopters from the statistical data.
Physical sizing was done with the help of sequential approach with the help of empirical formulae.
The fuselage is sized in accordance with the main rotor blades, its smooth shape for a good flow and the
number of seating required. From all the statistical data collected for a similar mission of helicopters it was
iterated and formulated using constraint analysis. The tail arm distance is calculated by the amount tail arm
moment about the centre gravity that needs to drive the torque produced by the main rotor and the tail
rotor is sized accordance to the tail arm distance. It is observed that the longer the tail arm lesser is the anti-
torque requirement. The fuselage width and height sizing is determined to accommodate the payload with
respect to centre of gravity and the main rotor diameter.
Finally, this transport helicopter is developed out of the commitment to fulfil every basic parameter
of a preliminary design. Hence, a brief cost analysis is presented at the end of the report to get an idea of
what is takes to own, operate and maintain a helicopter.
Nomenclature
α Angle of Attack
Ω Rotational Speed
C Rotor Chord
r Rotor Radius
ρ Air Density
Vtip Tip Velocity
W Net Weight
Vh Induced Velocity at Hover
n Number of Blades
MTOW Maximum take-off Weight
Cd Coefficient of Drag
µ Inflow Ratio
σ Main Rotor Solidity
FM Figure of Merit
λh Induced Velocity Ratio at Hover
AR Aspect Ratio
B Tip-loss Factor
Vi Induced Velocity
Po Profile Power
Pp Parasite Power
Clmean Mean Lift Coefficient
Ct Coefficient of Thrust
M Mach Number
a Speed of Sound
T Temperature
γ Gas Constant
D Main Rotor Diameter
Dtr Tail Rotor Diameter
Ωtr Tail Rotor Speed
Rtr Tail Rotor Radius
Ttr Tail Rotor Thrust
CT(tr) Coefficient of Thrust Tail Rotor
Ctr Chord of Tail Rotor
σtr Tail Rotor Solidity
Atr Tail Rotor Area
ARtr Aspect Ratio of Tail Rotor
1. Our Mission:
The design of this helicopter aims to provide convenience and save time of busy passengers who
wish to travel from Birmingham to Manchester and vice-versa. Moreover, this helicopter can be used to
ferry passengers between airports and central business districts of cities and there is a good chance to utilize
this aircraft for short city tours.
Furthermore, there is spacious cabin for passengers which are 5.5 meters in length and 2.01 meters
in width to accommodate seven seats. The helicopter is flying at the maximum speed of 67m/s which makes
the passenger reach their destinations quickly. For the safety of the passengers and the helicopter in case of
an engine failure the pilot may still make a safe landing even at a parking lot. Also, it has an excellent
hovering capacity (Figure of Merit 0.74) which makes the helicopter fly lower to have a better view of the
location while flying.
Also, when the Mach number at the tip is taken into consideration, it is kept low to reduce the rotor
noise which makes flying more convenient. Such very little careful thoughts make flying comfortable.
2. Introduction:
In this era of supersonic aircrafts, jumbo-jets and luxurious chartered aircrafts the helicopter has still
survived being neither supersonic and nor quite simple to handle. For over 70 years helicopters have played
an important role in both military as well as in civilian air transportation. Today helicopter is used for almost
every such mission which was thought to be just a fantasy before few years ranging from obvious military
purpose, aerial photography, construction, medical transport, short tours, fire-fighting, search and rescue
among others. Due to its wide-ranging operating characteristics, it has been chosen by almost everyone in
the world to perform task which are nearly impossible for a fixed wing aircraft. There are more than to be
counted advantages for the uses of helicopters but few of them will be its mobility to fly in almost all the
environment conditions, many number of terrains, can transport people to remote location where there are
no transport modes available. It can carry payloads internally as well as externally using slings and winches.
The scope of this report is to complete a preliminary design of a helicopter hence much of the
importance is given to the physical sizing, calculations of the individual components, its basic aerodynamics
and a brief cost analysis. This transport helicopter is like every other conventional helicopter which is
capable of hovering for prolonged period, fly at low altitudes, safely take-off and land on various surfaces
and enable quick transport of payload for short distances. All equations used in the report are used for the
purpose of performance calculation, physical sizing and weight estimation have been authentic literature
obtained in public domain.
1. Table of Physical Dimension:
Performance Data :
General Sizing:
This sizing was done using the given MTOW in the specification requirements as 3500 Kg. This weight is
taken as primary consideration and it is estimated to be 80% of the MTOW. In order to achieve a given high
speed of 67m/s, the Mach number at the tip is kept at an optimal value of 0.65. refer Appendix [E]
Hence we get,
The graph -Refer Appendix [B]- represents the MTOW .Vs. Disk-loading. Here, the disk-loading is estimated
to be 30Kfg/m2. We know that the radius is selected as 6.0078m.
Though the larger radius gives higher hovering efficiency and better auto-rotational characteristics it adds up
to the weight and cost to the helicopter. After this calculation we can obtain the coefficient of thrust which
is given by the formula:
And
Blade Planform:
Rotor blade tip loss factor could be assumed as 0.98 [1] that helps in obtaining number of blades
approximately and blade chord.
However, the blade solidity could be adversely used to obtain a number of blades and understand the
relationship between number of blades and radius of blades.
Through the graph above, the radius is chosen to be as 5.8m and hence the design does not exceed the
number of blades as four.
The tail rotor is design to counteract the torque produced by the main rotor. Initial sizing of a tractor
type tail rotor was made in accordance with the main rotor diameter and the amount of moment produced
by the main rotor. To reduce the loss of thrust due to the blockage of vertical fin, a ducted fan method
known as fenestron is used. Though it adds weight and complexity of its design but often this trade-off are
acceptable when its advantages are considered [2]. This system has an advantage in terms of the power
required to drive it as the diameter if the rotor reduces to about half of the conventional tail rotor. Hence,
the solidity of the blade becomes higher as it has many numbers of blades which increases its overall weight.
The length of the tail boom is calculated with the assumption that it is 20% longer than the main rotor radius
[3].
The vertical fin provides better directional stability as it even offloads tail rotor in forward flight. This
provides a good casing to mount the fenestron to it which directly attached to the tail boom [1].
4. Horizontal Stabilizer:
The horizontal surface gives pitch stability of the helicopter [2]. Since the main rotor and fuselage are
inherent negative stability in pitch, it helps in better handling of the helicopter. The surface area of the
horizontal stabilizer is calculated by the gross weight of the helicopter which is 0.86m and also has an effect
on the centre of gravity of the rotorcraft. An inverted airfoil is chosen to create a downwash in forward flight
to keep the fuselage angle of attack to the lowest parasite drag. The position of the horizontal stabilizer is
5.69m from the centre of the main rotor which is in the downwash of the main rotor the forward fixed
stabilizer is to avoid sudden changes in downwash caused by rotor wake. The area of the stabilizer is larger
as it is inside the wake which increases the weight [1].
5. Airfoil Selection for the Main and Tail Rotor:
Aerodynamic analysis was performed using XFLR5 software on a set of Airfoils which are used for
General Utility Helicopters. Refer to Appendix [F]
Airfoil Cl Cd Cl/Cd Cm
HQ 0/10 1.84 0.08 22.8 -0.4825
NACA 63a010 1.83 0.0797 23 -0.4782
NACA 64A010 1.699 0.06 24.94 -0.4053
NASA SC(2)-0010 1.963 0.09 21.32 -0.5504
RAE 101 1.852 0.08 22.73 -0.48
There were many varied conditions used while performing the analysis such as a range of Mach
number from 0.05-0.2, using different alpha values and for different chords.
There are few critical areas which need to be addressed while selecting an Airfoil for the helicopter
as the helicopter blades operate in wide-range of environment and in multifarious conditions making
the Airfoil to perform well in all situations. Few of them are [1] :
1. Having high CLmax which enables a rotor with having a low weight as well as solidity.
2. Having a high L/D ratio in a range of operating Mach numbers
3. A low value of Cm enables the rotor blades to minimize torsional moments and vibrations.
Noting all these conditions, the most optimum Airfoil from the list above was NACA 63a010 which
behaved considerably well in many conditions. This Airfoil was iterated for many chords and the
data is as follows :
(While a more advance designed Airfoil may achieve a better performance, this selection was made using the Airfoils
available in Public Domain)
6. Gearbox and Transmission:
A conventional (or) fully articulated main rotor hub is used. This type of rotor hub allows each blade to
lead/lag, flap independent of the other rotor blades. Each rotor blade is attached to the rotor hub by a
horizontal hinge called flapping hinge which permits the blade to flap up and down [4]. Each blade can then
move up and down independently. The flapping hinge may be located at varying distances from rotor hub
and there may be more than one such hinge in the hub. The position is chosen by each manufacturer
primarily with regard to stability and control. Each rotor blade is also attached to the hub by a vertical hinge
called drag hinge (or) lag hinge that permits each blade to move back and forth in the plane of rotor disk.
Dampers are normally incorporated in the design of this type of rotor system to prevent excessive motion
about drag hinge.
The purpose of drag hinge and dampers is to absorb the acceleration and deceleration of rotor blades.
The blades of a fully articulated rotor can also be feathered (or) rotated about their span-wise axis. In other
words, feathering means the changing of pitch angle of rotor blades. Rotor blades have high span-to-chord
ratio and thus severe stresses can be transmitted to the hub if the blades are not permitted to flap.
However, if the blades are aero-elastically soft, the hub stresses can be kept to a minimum and both types of
hinges can be eliminated.
For the transmission of power from the turbine engine to the helicopter rotor a speed reduction gearbox
should always be used [5]. As the turbine output shaft rotates at speeds of 5,000 to 50,000 RPM’s. Usually in
all modern helicopters two-stage main reduction gearboxes are used but as we have chosen to fly the
helicopter with single gas turbine engine, one stage speed reduction gearbox is used and is presented below.
7. Fuel Capacity and Tank Sizing:
8. Centre of Gravity:
The maximum weight of the rotorcraft is counted as 3400 kg with all other objects added together. A
reference plane in order to locate the C.G is taken at 4.08m forward from centre of rotor. the weights of all
components and their location from the reference plane are tabulated. The weight of the relative object is
multiplied by the arm distance, to find its moment.
From the calculation C.G of the rotorcraft is located at 4.1m from the reference plane.
The forward and aft movement of the C.G is calculated and a C.G envelope is drawn to find
the maximum workable C.G range. The limit of C.G lies from 3.8m to 4.2m. The maximum forward limit of
C.G for 1900 kg is located at 3.85m aft of reference plane and the max aft limit of the C.G lies at 4.2m aft of
the reference line. The forward C.G limit for 3400kg lies at 3.9m aft of reference plane and aft C.G position
falls on 4.17m aft of the reference plane. The lateral C.G limits has the maximum deviation right/left is 0.2m
as the reference plane is the fuselage median plane.
Longitudinal
Weight Longitudinal Moment
Arm( m) From
(kg) (kg.m)
nose
Basic Empty
1961.4 4.04 7924.056
Weight
Pilots (2) 200 2 400
Passengers (7) 700 5.5 3850
Baggage and
100 7 700
miscellaneous
Fuel 438.6 3 1315.8
Total 3400 4.173487059 14189.856
C.G lies between 3.8m – 4.3m
CG Envelope
4900
Boundary
4400
Weight (kg/m^3)
3900 Rotor
Mast
3400 With Fuel
2900 Without
2400 Fuel
1900
3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4
Distance from datum (m)
9. Weight Estimates:
W=We+ WPAY+ Wf
3400=We+ 1000+438.60
We=1961 kg
Empty Weight comprises of weight of blades, hub, propulsion unit, fuselage, control systems, electrical
equipment’s and any other fixed equipment’s.
Main rotor blades are made up of carbon composites, whose density could be assumed as 1600 kg/m 3
that gives mass of the blades as 207.872 kg.
Solidity provides a means to measure the potential for a rotor system to provide thrust. It is the ratio
of total blade area over disk area.
In order to calculate this, we need first to obtain the dimensions of the blades. In this design, we
used four blades with rotor radius of 5.8m and chord of 0.28m. The induced velocity made by the rotor
is also taking into consideration and calculated from the following equation.
To get the power required to take this helicopter weight of the ground, the ideal power is calculated as a
first estimation from this equation.
Induced power is the power required to produce lift which is very close to the ideal power. Also there is
rotor profile power which is the power required to overcome the weight and aerodynamic drag force of
the blades. Another power parameter which should be calculated is the parasitic power. It is the power
to move the rest of the airframe through the air.
Hence, the total power required for hover is the summation of induced power and parasitic power. Two
parameters are important to indicate the performance of the helicopter is the power and thrust
coefficients.
The ideal power which is calculated previously is not the actual power required for the helicopter as
there are some losses. Those losses are all combined in what is called ‘Figure of Merit’. It is an indicator
on how efficient the helicopter is.
Most of the helicopters have a figure of merit between 0.7 ــ0.8. Our design had been optimized to get a
figure of merit of 0.74.
The engine had been selected according to the total power required as shown in Appendix [D]
After selecting the engine, the fuel tank capacity had been calculated. The most important parameter to
know is the specific fuel consumption (SFC) which depends on the engine power. Hence, the fuel tank
size is obtained which is 439kg. The endurance is given from this equation.
The total power required for the forward flight is given by:
The induced power cannot be obtained through direct relations hence the formula for induced velocity ratio
in forward flight can be taken as [6]:
√( )
Assuming αT=2° and following the Newton Ralphson method induced forward velocity id obtained at
different velocities. . Furthermore, through incudes forward velocity ratio and using the relation
The induced, profile, parasite and total power with respect to velocities is plotted below:
14. Hover Ceiling:
The hover ceiling OGE effect is reached when the engine power at a certain altitude matches with the
hover power. The engine power varies according to the altitude, hence the available engine power is
and is in SI units at a certain altitude is
( )
Comparing available engine power at 2500m at mean sea level at hover power of 578.9 kW, the
climb rate of 0.2316 is obtained. This shows that the service ceiling of 2500m is achieved. Refer Appendix [E]
( )
is obtained from the plot of forward power .Vs. velocity, where at one certain point we get the velocity for
high range and correspondingly for power. Refer to Appendix [I]
13. Autorotation
In the case of engine failure, the helicopter gets into an autorotation state. Autorotation is when the
main rotor is driven by the air moving up unlike the normal powered flight where the engine draws the air
above the rotor. When the engine fails, the rotor is allowed to rotate freely through a freewheeling unit
which disengages it from the engine. This is the only hope for the helicopter to survive from engine failure.
Refer to Appendix [G]
14. Cost Estimation:
The total cost of the aircraft was estimated to be £4,000,000 approximately. This assumption was
made with respect to the cost of the engine being 40% of the cost of the entire helicopter. Furthermore, the
direct operating cost has been estimated for this helicopter as follows:
Powerplant
maintainence
Direct Operating Cost (£950)
Overhaul
21%
Life Limited
Parts
10%
Fuel
67%
Lubricants
2%
The maintain cost can be estimated with a general idea of considering the total cost of the aircraft and the
retirement hours. Hence if we suppose that the helicopter will run for 10,000 hours before retirement then
the maintenance cost would be as follows:
An effective mission dependant trade-off has to be made between the carried fuel and the payload.
Increasing number of fuel tanks increases the range. A ferry range of 851.8Km can be obtained with the
current design. The power required to hiver is higher than the power required for forward flight by again a
factor of 1.74. Thus, it depends on the mission. Finally, the FAA recognises the designed helicopter in the
group B and it satisfies the regulations of 27.1.
Bibliography
[2] O. Rand and V. Khromov, Helicopter Sizing by Statistics, Montreal: American Helicoptr Society 58th
Annual Forum, 2002.
[6] A. Filippone, Flight Performance of Fixed and Rotary Wing Aircraft, Great Britain: Elsevier Ltd, 2006.
[8] B. Magliozzi, F. B. Metzger, W. Bausch and R. J. King, A Comprehensive Review of Helicopter Noise
Literature, Virginia: U.S. Department of Tranportaion, 1975.
[10] S. G. Kee, Guie for Conceptual Helicopter Design, California: Naval Postgraduate School, 1983.
[11] A. C. Hansen, An Analsis of Three Approaches to The Helicopter Preliminary Design Problem, California:
Naval Posgraduate School, 1984.
[12] C. Five, Introduction to Helicopter Aerodynamics Workbook, Texas: Naval Air Training Command, 2000.
[13] Federa and A. Administration, Helicopter Flying Handbook, USA: FAA, 2014.
[14] S. J. Davis and J. S. Wisniewski, User's Manual For Hescomp The Helicopter Sizing and Performance
Computer Program, California: BEOING Vertol Company, 1973.
[15] A. T. Conlisk, Moern Helicopter Rotor Aerodynamics, Ohio: ELSEVIER Ltd., 2001.
[16] A. Brocklehurst and G. N. Barakos, Progress in Aerospace Sciences, Liverpool: ELSEVIER Ltd.#, 2012.
[17] A. R. S. Bramwell, The Longitudinal Stability and Control of the Tandem-Rotor Helicopter, London:
Ministry of Aviation, 1961.
[18] N. Apetre, S. Sarkar, N. Iyyer, P. Kang and N. Phan, Innovative Methods to Estimate Rotorcraft Gross
Weight and Cener of Gravity, EU: 6th European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring, 2009.
7000
6000
5000
4000
Drag (N)
3000
2000
1000
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Free Stream Velocity (m/s)
Appendix [D] Engine Selection
Appendix [E] Matlab Codes
Program-1
Diskloading=30;
rotorradius=sqrt((Egross)/(Diskloading*3.14))
disp(rotorradius);
%Calculating Rotational Velocity
Rvelocity=Vmaxtip/rotorradius;
rotorarea=3.14*(rotorradius^2);
%Calculating Coefficient of thrust
Ct=Egross/(rotorarea*0.954*(Vmaxtip^2));
Program 2
j=1;
lambdah=0.060495; %Induced velocity ratio at hover
Vmaxtip=212.58; % Maximum Velocity at the tip
Maxspeed=0; %Free Stream Velocity
alfa=2; %Tilt Angle
mu=(Maxspeed*cosd(alfa))/Vmaxtip;
lambda=lambdah;
alpha1=tand(alfa);
disp(Maxspeed);
while(j<10) % Loop for performing Newton Raphson Iterations
f=lambda-(mu*alpha1)-((lambdah^2)/(sqrt(mu^2+lambda^2)));
df=1+((lambdah^2)*lambda)/(((mu^2)+(lambda^2))^(3/2));
lambda=lambda-(f/df);
j=j+1;
disp(lambda);
end
Program-3
a=-0.0296*2500;
b=a/1000;
c=exp(b);
disp(c);
d=0.940*c;
disp(d);
e=d^1.35;
P=(704*e); %Engine power according to characterisitics of certain altitude
disp(P);
Climbrate=((P*1000)-(578900))/(3400*9.8); % Calculated Climb Rate
disp('Climb Rate');
disp(Climbrate);