• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.48 no.8
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• pp.597-609
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• 2020

These days, the coaxial rotor system is used for various purposes like UAVs, Mars exploration helicopters, and the next-generation high-speed rotorcraft. A number of research projects on aerodynamic performance of rotor systems, including the coaxial configuration have been made previously. On the contrary, research on rotor blade deformation has been mainly carried out regarding the single rotor system, where such effort has not been enough on the coaxial system. Nonetheless, in case of the coaxial system, blade deformation analysis is much more important because of the complex air flow around the rotors, and that the distance between the two rotors is a key factor affects aerodynamic performance of the entire system. For these reasons, an experimental study on rotor blade deformation of the coaxial system was conducted using the Stereo Pattern Recognition(SPR) technique, one of the state-of-the-art of photogrammetry method. In this research, a small-scale coaxial rotor test stand designed by Korea Aerospace Research Institute(KARI) was used. With the same test stand, performance of the coaxial configuration had been studied before the experimental study on blade deformation, in order to find the relation between performance and blade deformation of the rotor system. Results of the performance test and the deformation study are presented in this article.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.89-97
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• 2020

In this study, a numerical analysis was performed on 26 inch single and coaxial propeller using the ANSYS Fluent 19.0 Solver to analyse the effect of the distance between coaxial propellers as one of the design parameter. The Moving Reference Frame (MRF) method was used for single propeller, while the sliding mesh method was used for a coaxial propeller to analyse the flow field varying with azimuth angle. The thrust and power are decreased as the upper and lower propeller approaching each other. As H/D is increased, interference between the propellers is decreased. According to the flow field variable contour of the coaxial propeller, it appears that the change in aerodynamic performance is due to the loading effect and the tip vortex wake effect.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.18-31
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• 2018

Rotorcrafts have more severe crashworthiness conditions than fixed wing aircraft owing to VTOL and hovering. Recently, with the increasing demand for highly efficient transportation system, application of composite materials to aircraft structures is increasing. However, due to the characteristics of composite materials that are susceptible to impact and crash, demand to prove the crashworthiness of composite structures is also increasing. The purpose of present study is to derive the structural concept of composite subfloor for rotorcrafts and verify it. In order to design a crashworthy composite subfloor, the conceptual design of the testbed helicopter for the demonstration and the derivation of energy absorbing requirement were carried out, and the composite energy absorber was designed and verified. Finally, the testbed for the demonstration of a crashworthy composite structure was fabricated, and performed free drop test. It was confirmed that the test results meet the criteria for ensuring occupant survivability.