The hinged rotor mechanics

In this paper, a model describing the motion of a hinged helicopter rotor blade is presented. A system of ordinary differential equations is derived for the parameters (flapping angle, lead-lag angle, and pitch angle) that determine the position of the blade in space, taking into account the aerodynamic forces obtained through the numerical solution of the flow problem. It is assumed that the variation of the blade pitch angle is defined by an analytical law. The proposed methodology is implemented in the CFD package NOISEtte and validated on a series of model problems.