Helicopter Rotor Sailing by Non-Smooth Dynamics Co-Simulation

This paper presents the application of a co-simulation approach for the simulation of frictional contact in general-purpose multibody dynamics to a rotorcraft dynamics problem. The proposed approach is based on the co-simulation of a main problem, which is described and solved as a set of differential algebraic equations, with a subproblem that is characterized by nonsmooth dynamics events and solved using a timestepping technique. The implementation and validation of the formulation is presented. The method is applied to the analysis of the droop and anti-flap contacts of helicopter rotor blades. Simulations focusing on the problem of blade sailing are conducted to understand the behavior and assess the validity of the method. For this purpose, the results obtained using a contact model based on Hertzian reaction forces at the interface are compared with those of the proposed approach.