Appraisal of handling qualities standards for rotorcraft lateral-directional dynamics

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2021-01-04

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European Rotocraft Forum

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Cameron N, White MD, Padfield GD, Lu L. (2021) Appraisal of handling qualities standards for rotorcraft lateral-directional dynamics. In: 47th European Rotorcraft Forum: ERF21, 7-9 September 2021, Virtual Event

Abstract

The coupled vehicle roll-yaw-sway motion of Lateral-Directional Oscillations is often a contributor to rotorcraft Handling Qualities deficiencies. The extent of the deficiencies, and the required pilot control compensation to mitigate their effects, depend critically on the LDO damping and frequency and relative contributions from the roll, yaw and sway motions. Current rotorcraft performance/certification standards (e.g. ADS-33E-PRF/CS-29) for LDO stability have been developed from standards that date from the 1950s or from fixed-wing requirements; there has been limited flight test to support their validation. This paper builds on previous work examining the suitability of these LDO stability criteria to modern rotorcraft operations through ground-based simulation assessment covering a range of HQs, selected based on a frequency of 2.5 rad/s with varying damping and roll-yaw ratio. The underlying simulation model is a FLIGHTLAB Bell 412 model, augmented to ensure that the non-LDO HQs are Level 1. The LDO test configurations have been developed with delta-derivatives added to the nonlinear model to change the LDO frequency, damping and the magnitude ratio of the roll/yaw motion, whilst preserving yaw control sensitivity. The preliminary results demonstrate Handling Qualities generally degrade as the amount of roll in the LDO increased with a p/r = 1.5 giving a reasonable match with the military standards. If the ratio is reduced, Level 1 ratings were awarded with a lower damping. Conversely, no Level 1 ratings were returned for p/r = 2 when the LDO was triggered in the closed loop task.

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