Forces on a Helicopter in Hover

What is it about?

A helicopter rotor produces a downward force to maintain a hover, however it also creates a complex wake system that interacts with the fuselage and ground that produces upward forces on the rotor blades and fuselage. This paper uses high-fidelity computational simulations to quantify these force components and show how the forces are highly dependent on the positions of the rotor blades as they rotate.

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Photo by Grant Durr on Unsplash

Photo by Grant Durr on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Our findings show that the chosen computational approach can accurately replicate the test results at several different flight conditions. Additionally, we quantify the benefit of hovering close to the ground and the efficiency losses associated with the fuselage and a headwind.