This thesis describes the analysis, fabrication and testing of a rotor with extremely flexible blades, focusing on application to a micro-helicopter. The flexibility of the rotor blades is such that they can be rolled into a compact volume and stowed inside the rotor hub. Stiffening and stabilization of the rotor is enabled by centrifugal forces acting on a tip mass. Centrifugal effects such as bifilar and propeller moments are investigated and the torsional equation of motion for a blade with low torsional stiffness is derived. Criteria for the design of the tip mass are also derived and it is chosen that the center of gravity of each blade section must be located ahead of the aerodynamic center. This thesis presents the design of 18-inch diameter two-bladed rotors having untwisted circular arc airfoil profile with constant chord. A systematic experimental investigation of the effect of various blade parameters on the stability of the rotor is conducted in hover and forward flight. These parameters include blade flexibility in bending and torsion, blade planform and mass distribution. Accordingly, several sets of blades varying these parameters are constructed and tested. It is observed that rotational speed and collective pitch angles have a significant effect on rotor stability. In addition, forward flight velocity is found to increase the blade stability. Next, the performance of flexible rotors is measured. In particular, they are compared to the performance of a rotor with rigid blades having an identical planform and airfoil section. It is found that the flexible blades are highly twisted during operation, resulting in a decreased efficiency compared to the rigid rotor blades. This induced twist is attributed to an unfavorable combination of tip body design and the propeller moment acting on it. Consequently, the blade design is modified and three different approaches to passively tailor the spanwise twist distribution for improved efficiency are investigated. In a first approach, extension-torsion composite material coupling is analyzed and it is shown that the centrifugal force acting on the tip mass is not large enough to balance the nose-down twist due to the propeller moment. The second concept makes use of the propeller moment acting on the tip mass located at an index angle to produce an untwisted blade in hover. It is constructed and tested. The result is an untwisted 18-inch diameter rotor whose maximum Figure of Merit is equal to 0.51 at a blade loading of 0.14. Moreover, this rotor is found to be stable for any collective pitch angle greater than 11 degrees. Finally, in a third approach, addition of a trailing-edge flap at the tip of the flexible rotor blade is investigated. This design is found to have a lower maximum Figure of Merit than that of an identical flexible rotor without a flap. However, addition of this control surface resulted in a stable rotor for any value of collective pitch angle. Future plans for increasing the efficiency of the flexible rotor blades and for developing an analytical model are described. / text

The master thesis deals with modal analysis of the blade of the steam turbine impeller. This analysis is made to find the frequency response of the blade in order to predict the dangerous speeds of the steam turbine. At first the problem situation is described. Than follows the research study which is focused on steam turbines and especially on the rotor dynamic systems and the way to ascertain the modal parameters of the dynamic system by experiment. After that the solution of the problem is performed by computational modelling. The results of the computation are analyzed in detail for different variations of the blade length by Campbell diagram. A graph showing dependency between dangerous speeds of the turbine and the blade length is made out of the results. Then the results are verified by experiment and the coefficients of proportional damping are specified. In conclusion the optimal variation of the blade length for the given operational state is determined.

Three-dimensional design and three-dimensional CFD analysis of a compressor rotor stage are performed. The design methodology followed is based on a mean line analysis and a radial equilibrium phase. The radial equilibrium is established at a selected number of radii. NACA 65 series airfoils are selected and stacked according to the experimental data available. The CFD methodology applied is based on a three-dimensional, finite difference, compressible flow Euler solver that includes the source terms belonging to rotational motion. The accuracy of the solver is shown by making use of two different test cases. The CFD solution of the designed geometry predicts the static pressure rises and flow turning angles to a good degree of accuracy.

SectionBuilder is an innovative finite element based tool, developed for analysis and design of composite beam cross-sections. The tool can handle the cross-sections with parametric shapes and arbitrary configurations. It can also handle arbitrary lay-ups for predefined beam cross-section geometries in a consistent manner. The material properties for each layer of the cross-section can be defined on the basis of the design requirements. This tool is capable of dealing with multi-cell composite cross-sections with arbitrary lay-ups. It has also the benefit of handling the variation of thickness of skin and D-spars for beams such as rotor blades. A typical cross-section is considered as a collection of interconnected walls. Walls with arbitrary lay-ups based on predefined geometries and material properties are generated first. The complex composite beam cross-sections are developed by connecting the walls using various types of connectors. These connectors are compatible with the walls, i.e., the thickness of the layers of the walls must match with those of the connectors at the place of connection. Cross-sections are often reinforced by core material for constructing realistic rotor blade cross-sections. The tool has the ability to integrate core materials into the cross-sections. A mapped mesh is considered for meshing parametric shapes, walls and various connectors, whereas a free mesh is considered for meshing the core materials. A new algorithm based on the Delaunay refinement algorithm is developed for creating the best possible free mesh for core materials. After meshing the cross-section, the tool determines the sectional properties using finite element analysis. This tool computes sectional properties including stiffness matrix, compliance matrix, mass matrix, and principal axes. A visualization environment is integrated with the tool for visualizing the stress and strain distributions over the cross-section.

New helicopter rotor designs are desired that offer increased efficiency, reduced vibration, and reduced noise. This problem is multidisciplinary, requiring knowledge of structural dynamics, aerodynamics, and aeroacoustics. Rotor optimization requires achieving multiple, often conflicting objectives. There is no longer a single optimum but rather an optimal trade-off space, the Pareto Frontier. Rotor Designers in industry need methods that allow the most accurate simulation tools available to search for Pareto designs. Computer simulation and optimization of rotors have been advanced by the development of "comprehensive" rotorcraft analysis tools. These tools perform aeroelastic analysis using Computational Structural Dynamics (CSD). Though useful in optimization, these tools lack built-in high fidelity aerodynamic models. The most accurate rotor simulations utilize Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) coupled to the CSD of a comprehensive code, but are generally considered too time consuming where numerous simulations are required like rotor optimization. An approach is needed where high fidelity CFD/CSD simulation can be routinely used in design optimization. This thesis documents the development of physics based rotor simulation frameworks. A low fidelity model uses a comprehensive code with simplified aerodynamics. A high fidelity model uses a parallel processor capable CFD/CSD methodology. Both frameworks include an aeroacoustic simulation for prediction of noise. A synergistic process is developed that uses both frameworks together to build approximate models of important high fidelity metrics as functions of certain design variables. To test this process, a 4-bladed hingeless rotor model is used as a baseline. The design variables investigated include tip geometry and spanwise twist. Approximation models are built for high fidelity metrics related to rotor efficiency and vibration. Optimization using the approximation models found the designs having maximum rotor efficiency and minimum vibration. Various Pareto generation methods are used to find frontier designs between these two anchor designs. The Pareto anchors are tested in the high fidelity simulation and shown to be good designs, providing evidence that the process has merit. Ultimately, this process can be utilized by industry rotor designers with their existing tools to bring high fidelity analysis into the preliminary design stage of rotors.

This master thesis deals with axial dendritic suspension of steam turbine rotor blade. The initial shape of the suspension was design on the basis of available data. There was performed stress-strain analysis of this shape and most dangerous spots were picked. There were made several geometrical changes of the shape of suspension. Their affection on stress-strain responding of the suspension was examined. The best shape was chosen which was used to perform analysis of infinite life according to ASME code and due to loading low cycle fatigue analysis. According to results of low cycle fatigue analysis the maximum loading was established. At the end of this work the further steps were suggested.

This thesis describes design of new circumferential blade attachment on last grade of steam turbine and following stress-strain analysis by FEM with static and cyclic loading. It was created two new design of geometry, which were created based on existing and operating constructional solution of oblique double T blade attachment. It was made stress-strain FEM analysis on original design of blades. Its results served to realize change of construction. Their target was increase load capacity and service life of new types of blade attachment.

An Automated Method for Hot-to-Cold Geometry Mapping.

En environnements hostiles, les signaux GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System)peuvent être soumis à des risques de brouillages intentionnels. Basées sur un réseau d'antennes adaptatif, les solutions spatio-temporelles (STAP) ont déjà montré de bonnes performances de réjection des interférences. Toutefois, lorsque le module GNSS est placé sous les pales d'un hélicoptère, des effets non-stationnaires, appelés Rotor Blade Modulation (RBM), créés par les multiples réflexions du signal sur les pales du rotor, peuvent dégrader les techniques usuelles d’antibrouillage. Le signal utile GNSS n’est alors plus accessible. Le travail de la thèse consiste donc à élaborer un système de protection des signaux GNSS adapté à la RBM. Pour cela, un modèle innovant de multitrajets, adapté à ce type de phénomène, a été développé. La comparaison de simulations électromagnétiques représentatives et de mesures expérimentales sur hélicoptère EC-120 a permis de valider ce modèle. Celui-ci permet d'estimer, par maximum de vraisemblance, les paramètres de la contribution non-stationnaire du signal reçu. Enfin, l'association d'un algorithme de filtrage des multitrajets par projection oblique et d'un traitement STAP permet d'éliminer la contribution dynamique puis statique de l'interférence. Les simulations montrent que le signal utile GNSS est alors de nouveau exploitable. / In hostile environments, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) can be disturbed by intentional jamming. Using antenna arrays, space-time adaptive algorithm (STAP) isone of the most efficient methods to deal with these threats. However, when a GNSS receiver is placed near rotating bodies, non-stationary effects called Rotor Blade Modulation (RBM) are created by the multipaths on the blades of the helicopter. They can degrade significantly the anti-jamming system and the signal of interest could belost. The work of the thesis is, consequently, to develop a GNSS protection system adapted to the RBM. In this way, an innovative multipath model, adapted to this phenomenon, has been developed. The model is then confirmed by comparison with a symptotic electromagnetic simulations and experiments conducted on an EC-120helicopter. Using a Maximum Likelihood algorithm, the parameters of the non-stationary part of the received signal have been estimated. And finally, the RBM anti-jamming solution, combining oblique projection algorithm and academic STAP, can mitigate dynamic and static contributions of interferences. In the end, the navigation information is available again.

A partial differential equation in space and time represents the physics of rotating beams. Mostly, the numerical solution of such an equation is an available option as analytical solutions are not feasible even for a uniform rotating beam. Although the numerical solutions can be obtained with a number of combinations (in space and time), one tries to seek for a better alternative. In this work, various numerical techniques are applied to the rotating beam problems: finite element method, meshless methods, and B-spline finite element methods. These methods are applied to the governing differential equations of a rotating Euler-Bernoulli beam, rotating Timoshenko beam, rotating Rayleigh beam, and cracked Euler-Bernoulli beam. This work provides some elegant alternatives to the solutions available in the literature, which are more efficient than the existing methods: the p-version of finite element in time for obtaining the time response of periodic ordinary differential equations governing helicopter rotor blade dynamics, the symmetric matrix formulation for a rotating Euler-Bernoulli beam free vibration problem using the Galerkin method, and solution for the Timoshenko beam governing differential equation for free vibration using the meshless methods. Also, the cracked Euler-Bernoulli beam free vibration problem is solved where the importance of higher order polynomial approximation is shown. Finally, the overall response of rotating blades subjected to aerodynamic forcing is obtained in uncoupled trim where the response is independent of the overall helicopter configuration. Stability analysis for the rotor blade in hover and forward flight is also performed using Floquet theory for periodic differential equations.