Aerodynamic Impacts of Helicopter Blade Erosion Coatings

摘要

The United States Army helicopter fleet experiences deformation of rotor blade contours from sand erosion and the implementation of technologies to protect against it. An investigation was performed to determine the effect of a typical erosion protection coating on the main rotor performance of a UH-60A Blackhawk utility helicopter. Computational fluid dynamics was used to calculate aerodynamic coefficients for representative coated airfoil sections. Hover analyses were performed to evaluate the impact of the coated airfoils on main rotor performance. The results show that airfoil erosion protection coatings can cause a decrease in the rotor's aerodynamic efficiency.