Rotorcraft Mechanics and Control

Module code: EG7015

The module provide an introductory course to rotorcraft mechanics and flight control. The rotorcraft industry is undergoing major transformations aligned with new environmentally friendly targets and new trasnpostation use cases. We look at the history and developement of convetntional rotorcraft as well as future trends. We cover different rotocraft configurations and identify major advantages and limitations as an air vehicle. After succeful completion, students should be able to recognise key operation components for standard helicopters, use key metrics to assess rotorcraft performance, identify key properties of the main flight modes for standard helicopter and able to design and assess flight control systems using methods fit for rotorcraft vehicles.

Topics covered

• Rotorcraft history, current market conditions and future trends
• Rotorcraft configurations and main rotorcraft components
• Performance analysis in hover, vertical and forward flight
• Control preliminaries for flight control design and assessment
• Flight control system architecture
• Stability Augmentation and Autopilot Control system design
• Handling Qualities