Wing Download of a Winged Helicopter with Side Propellers in Hover

Abstract

Hovering performance of a winged helicopter with side propellers is investigated experimentally. It is found that the wing download, which is one of the most critical factors for the hovering performance, is increased with the use of side propellers and that the increment of the wing download changes depending on the experimental parameters, which are wing incidence angle, wing flap angle, side propellers arrangement, and side propellers rotation direction. Although it is limited to the particular operational condition (hovering) and to the experimental parameters changed here, we propose an advantageous configuration of the winged helicopter with side propellers. How the side propellers influence the wing download and why the impact of the side propellers depends on settings of experimental parameters is discussed with reference to the results of CFD analysis.