A doublet lattice method for the determination of rotor induced empennage vibration airloads. Analysis description and program documentation

An efficient state-of-the-art method was developed to determine the unteady vibratory airloads produced by the interaction of the main rotor wake with a helicopter empennage. This method was incorporated into a computer program, Rotor Induced Empennage Vibration Analysis (RIEVA). The program requires the main rotor wake position and the strength of the vortices locates near the empennage surfaces. A nonlinear lifting surface analysis is utilized to predict the aerodynamic loads on the empennage surfaces in the presence of these concentrated vortices. The analysis was formulated to include all pertinent effects such as suction of the interacting vortices and the shed vorticity behind the empennage surfaces. The analysis employs a time domain solution. The output of the program consists of chordwise and spanwise airload distributions on the empennage surfaces. The airload distributions are harmonically analyzed and formulated for input into the Coupled Rotor/Airframe Vibration Analysis