Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-g78kv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-28T05:18:07.520Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

An Extension of Bennett’s Formula for the Profile-Drag Power of Helicopter Rotors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

H. Wittenberg*
Affiliation:
Department of Aeronautics, Technological University, Delft

Extract

In ref. 1 Bennett derived the well-known expression for the power required to overcome the profile drag of the rotor blades for a helicopter in forward flight:

The power given by (1) is composed of two parts: the contribution of the torque of the profile drag with respect to the rotor axis and that of the drag of the rotor blades due to the forward motion (H-force).

Several methods for performance calculation of helicopters require the two parts of the profile-drag power separately, as they make use of the equation for the equilibrium of forces in the direction of flight, to which the rotor drag gives a contribution. In this note expressions for the two parts of the total profile-drag power are derived using the same method as indicated in the original work of Bennett. Numerical results are given.

Type
Technical Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1960

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Bennett, J. A. J. (1933). Zeit. Flugtechn. und Motorluftsch, No. 17, 1933. English translation:—Rotary-Wing Aircraft. Aircraft Engineering, pp. 6567, 79, March 1940.Google Scholar