LIFT MECHANISM

OF THE
HELICOPTER

INTRODUCTION
A helicopter is an aircraft that is lifted and
propelled by one or more horizontal rotors, each
rotor consisting of two or more rotor blades.
A helicopter works by having its wings
move through air while the body stays still. The
helicopter blades are called main rotor blades.
During flight there are four forces on the
helicopter and those forces are lift, drag, thrust
and weight.

Technical Terms

Bernoulli' principle :This principle states that

as the air velocity increases, the pressure
decreases; and as the velocity decreases, the
pressure increases .

Airfoil : is technically defined as any surface,

such as an elevator, rudder, wing, main rotor
blades, or tail rotor blades designed to obtain
reaction from the air through which it moves

Angle of Attack :is the acute angle measured between

the chord of an airfoil and the relative wind.

Angle of Incidence :is the acute angle between the

wing's chord line and the longitudinal axis of the airplane.
(usually manufacturer had built the aircraft with the wing
has some degrees to the horizontal plane or airplane
longitudinal axis
Blades : The blades of the helicopter are airfoils with a

very high aspect ratio ( length to chord ). The angle of

incidence is adjusted by means of the control from pilots.

Swash Plate Assembly : The swash plate assembly

consists of two primary elements through which the

rotor mast passes. One element is a disc, linked to
the cyclic pitch control. This disc is capable of tilting
in any direction but does not rotate as the rotor
rotates.

Transmission : The transmission system transmits

engine power to the main rotor, tail rotor, generator

and other accessories

Description of lift on an airfoil

In a helicopter, the structure making flight
possible is the airfoil - a surfaced body that
responds to relative motion between itself and
the air with a useful, dynamic reaction known as
lift. The term airfoil, refers to the rotary wing,
and more specifically means the curvature, or
camber, of the blade.
As the diagram indicates, the thick end of
the section is known as the leading edge. The
small tapering end is the trailing edge. The
distance between the leading edge and the
trailing edge is known as the chord of the airfoil.

The rotary wing blade in a helicopter

is
asymmetrical, that is it has a curvature that
changes along the entire length of the chord. If the
blade were symmetrical, then the chord line would
be a straight line from the leading to the trailing
edges. Since the curvature changes constantly in
rotor blade, the result is that the chord of the
blade also changes. When computing the chord line
of this type of blade, an average or mean
aerodynamic chord (MAC) becomes apparent .

When a blade (airfoil) is moved through the air, a
stream of air flows over and under it. The blade is
designed so that the flow of air will be smooth and
will conform to the shape of the moving blade. If
the blade is set at the proper angle and made to
move fast enough, the airflow will support the
weight of the blade. This is the nature of the action
that enables rotary wings to furnish enough lift to
sustain the helicopter in flight.

Hence by applying bernoullis theorem we

can observe that lift is produced by a lower
pressure created on the upper surface of the
helicopters wings compared to the pressure on
the wing's lower surfaces, causing the wing to be
lifted upward. The special shape of the rotor
(airfoil) is designed so that air flowing over it will
have to travel a greater distance and faster
resulting in a lower pressure area thus lifting the
wing upward.

Lift equation
Lift depends upon:
(1) shape of the airfoil
(2) the angle of attack
(3) the area of the surface exposed to the airstream
(4) the square of the air speed
(5) the air density.

Where,
L is lift force,
is air density,
v is air speed over the airfoil,
A is wing area, and
CL is the lift coefficient at the desired angle of attack

Lift in an established flow

Established flow may be considered as steady, laminar

&

incompressible flow.
As fluid never crosses a streamline in a steady flow; hence mass
is conserved within each streamtube.
One streamtube travels over the upper surface, while the other
travels over the lower surface; dividing these two tubes is a
dividing line that intersects the airfoil on the lower surface,
typically near to the leading edge.
The streamline leaves the airfoil at the sharp trailing edge, a
feature of the flow known as the Kutta condition.

This image shows the streamlines over a NACA 0012 airfoil

of the real flow. The flow approaching an airfoil can be

divided into two streamtubes, which are defined based on the
area between two streamlines.

The upper stream tube constricts as it flows up and around the

airfoil, a part of the so-called upwash. From the conservation of

mass, the flow speed must increase as the stream tube area
decreases. The area of the lower stream tube increases, causing
the flow inside the tube to slow down. It is typically the case
that the air parcels traveling over the upper surface will reach
the trailing edge before those traveling over the bottom.

From Bernoulli's principle, the pressure on the upper

surface where the flow is moving faster is lower than

the pressure on the lower surface. The pressure
difference thus creates a net aerodynamic force,
pointing upward and downstream to the flow direction.

The component of the force normal to the free stream is

considered to be lift; the component parallel to the free

stream is drag. In conjunction with this force by the air
on the airfoil, by Newton's third law, the airfoil imparts
an equal-and-opposite force on the surrounding air that
creates the downwash.

Principle of Helicopter Flight

Helicopter Lift is obtained by means of one or more
power driven horizontal propellers which called Main
Rotor.
When the main rotor of helicopter turns, it produces
lift and reaction torque. Reaction torque tends to
make helicopter spin. On most helicopters, a small
rotor near the tail which called tail rotor compensates
for this torque.
On twin rotor helicopter the rotors rotate in
opposite directions, their reactions cancel each other.

MAIN ROTOR
The lifting force is produced by the main rotor .

As they spin in the air and produced the lift.

Each blade produces an equal share of the lifting
force. The weight of a helicopter is divided
evenly between the rotor blades on the main
rotor system. If a helicopter weight 4000 lbs and
it has two blades, then each blade must be able
to support 2000 lbs. In addition to the static
weight of helicopter ,each blade must be accept
dynamic load as well . For example, if a
helicopter pull up in a 1.5 time the gravity force,
then the effective weight of helicopter will be
1.5 time of static helicopter weight or 6000 lbs.
due to gravitational pull.

 The tail rotor in normally linked to the main rotor via a

system of drive shafts and gearboxes .Most helicopter

have a ratio of 3:1 to 6:1 . In most helicopter the engine
turns a shaft that connected to an input quill in the
transmission gearbox.

Torque Reaction
If you spin a rotor with an engine, the rotor will
rotate,but the engine and helicopter body will tend to
rotate in opposite direction to the rotor. This is called
Torque reaction. Newton's third law of motion states , "
to every action there is an equal and opposite
reaction" . The tail rotor is used to compensates for this
torque and hold the helicopter straight.

Dissymmetry of Lift
All rotor systems are subject to
Dissymmetry of Lift in forward flight . At a
hover , the lift is equal across the entire
rotor disk . As the helicopter gain air
speed , the advancing blade develops
greater lift because of the increased
airspeed and the retreating blade will
produce less lift , this will cause the
helicopter to roll .

In order to overcome this problem blade

flapping is done.

Dissymmetry of lift in helicopter aerodynamics refers to an uneven

amount of lift on opposite sides of the rotor disc.
The dissymmetry is caused by differences in relative airspeed between
the advancing blade and the retreating blade.

Blade Flapping
Dissymmetry of lift is compensated by
blade flapping ,because of the increased
airspeed and lift on the advancing blade
will cause the blade to flap up and
decreasing the angle of attack . The
decreased lift on the retreating blade will
cause the blade to flap down and
increasing the angle of attack . The
combination of decreased angle of attack
on the advancing blade and increased
angle of attack on the retreating blade
through blade flapping action tends to
equalize the lift over the two halves of the
rotor disc.

Flight Control

Swash plate assembly :

Its primary component is the swash
plate, located below the rotor head. This
swash plate consists of one non-revolving
disc and one revolving disc mounted
directly on top. The swash plate is
connected to the cockpit control sticks
and can be made to tilt in any direction,
according to the cyclic stick movement
made by the pilot, or moved up and
down according to the collective lever
movement.

 The Collective Control :.

The collective control is made by moving

a lever that rises up from the cockpit floor

to the left of the pilot's seat, which in turn
raises or lowers the swash plate on the
main rotor shaft, without tilting it. This
lever only moves up and down and
corresponds directly to the desired
movement of the helicopter; lifting the
lever will result in the helicopter rising
while lowering it will cause the helicopter
to sink

The Cyclic Control :

The cyclic control works by tilting the

swash plate and changing the pitch angle
of a rotor blade at a given point in the
rotation.
As the pitch angle changes, so the lift
generated by each blade changes and as
a
result
the
helicopter
becomes
'unbalanced', and so tips towards
whichever side is experiencing the lesser
amount of lift. Thus with its help,
helicopter can move right or left ,
backward or forward.

Questions ?

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