Design, Manufacturing And Testing Of Highly Instrumented Rotor Blades For A Medium Size Helicopter Wind Tunnel Model

Abstract

At DLR Braunschweig, a new four-bladed medium size helicopter wind tunnel test rig on a scale of 1:6.375 to the EC-135 was manufactured and tested in the framework of DLR´s guiding concept 'The Rescue Helicopter 2030'. This paper deals with the design and manufacturing of new hingeless Mach-scaled rotor blades and the interaction between structural aspects and the dynamic behavior. It deals specifically with the challenges and particularities of composite rotor blade manufacturing of relatively small, highly instrumented rotor blades with pressure sensors and strain gauges. Test results and an assessment of a single blade as well as test results of the whole rotor on DLR`s test rig are presented.