A Generalised Beam Formulation for the Dynamic Analysis of Camber-Morphing Helicopter Blades

Morphing structures can be used for aircraft to modify the shape of lifting surfaces during the different phases of operations. The analysis of peculiar topologies often employed in this type of structure is very complex and requires the development of large, computationally intensive three-dimensional finite element models, to be used for static and dynamic analyses. However, the structures of rotorcraft blade behave like prismatic beams. So a tailored semi-analytical formulation can be developed, by assuming that it is possible to characterize appropriately the behavior of the blade section. This article shows how it is possible to exploit the same semi-analytical approach also for the analysis of the behavior of morphing structure that are designed to allow a chordwise variation of the curvature of the lifting surfaces.