Snubber bearing mounting assembly for bearingless rotor

摘要

A mounting assembly (100) is provided for securing a helicopter snubber bearing (70) to a bearingless rotor assembly (10) which includes a flexbeam connector (22) mounted to a torque drive hub member (18). The mounting assembly (100) includes a retainer fixture (102) for mounting a retainer (104) which engages an inner bearing race portion (88) of the snubber bearing (70). The retainer fixture (102) is mounted to the flexbeam connector (22) and includes an inboard end portion (112), a restraint portion (114) extending radially outboard thereof, and a seat portion (116) disposed therebetween. The retainer (104) is disposed in register with, and is compliantly bonded to, the seat portion (116) of the retainer fixture (102), and furthermore abuts the restraint portion (114) which provides redundant retention therefor. To reduce bondline stresses, the retainer (104) includes at least one stress relieving lateral slot (132) and at least one stress relieving forward slot (134), which cooperates with a radial slot (156) formed in the retainer fixture (102), to reduce shear and tensile stresses in the compliant adhesive (130). Furthermore, the seat portion (116) of the retainer fixture (102) is reduced in width dimension to reduce flap and pitch induced shear stresses. The mounting assembly (100) provides redundant load paths for transferring centrifugal loads acting on the snubber bearing (70) to the flexbeam connector (22) or, alternatively, to the central torque drive hub member (18).