Aerospace Collaborative

Onderhoud van vliegtuigen Descriptor(s) helicopter structural loads fatigue life A Modelling framework for the calculation of structural loads for fatigue life prediction of helicopter airframe components Problem area Present day maintenance programs for helicopters are often schedule based which means that a helicopter component is replaced after a predetermined number of flight hours. Future maintenance procedures aim at maintenance ‘on condition ’ which means that a component is replaced when it is degrading or when the actual operational life is reached. Thorough and reliable knowledge of the exerted loads on the component is essential for the development of such maintenance procedures. Description of work A framework to calculate airframe component loads has been developed, based on using a chain of relatively simple physics modelling tools. Results of the computations have been validated by means of comparison with strain gauge measurements on the aft-pylon engine frame during scheduled operational flights Results and conclusions Results show a good agreement for the prediction of 3/rev vibrations of the component. Trend analyses provides insight in weight, flight speed and altitude dependencies. The proposed framework is capable of calculating structural dynamic loads of an airframe component in a relatively simple and cost-effective way