Innovative Blade Design Concepts for Highly Maneuverable Rotors

Future military rotorcraft will require significant increase in maneuverability and handling qualities with low detectability for air-to-air combat and nap of the earth operations. SatCon Technology Corporation proposes to develop innovative blade design concepts using smart material/structures to meet this requirement by substantially enhancing the maneuver capability of the rotor. These concepts, consisting of piezoelectric, electro-strictive, magnetostrictive and other advanced actuators integrated into the blade design, would allow individual control of the rotor blades. This approach will improve operability by improving maneuverability, agility, and speed; improve supportability by increasing reliability; and improve survivability by decreasing signature (noise and vibration). Phase I will identify and compare advanced and innovative blade design concepts using smart materials/structures which enhance the maneuver capability without performance and weight penalties. The most promising concepts which are representative of current future technology will be traded-off considering both benefits and disadvantages in terms of attributes such as rotor performance, weight, and complexity. In Phase II additional evaluation of the most promising concepts will be performed to verify benefits and disadvantages. A 10-ft. diameter scale model of the most promising concept will be fabricated and tested to validate the theoretical predictions.