
| Heli | tip speed Mach | rotor diameter | RPM |
| V-22 Osprey | 0.59 | 38 ft | 333 |
| Robinson R22 | 0.60 | 25 ft - 2 in | 510 |
| CH-47D Chinook | 0.63 | 60 ft | 225 |
| Bell 222A (AirWolf) | 0.65 | 42 ft | 348 |
| H-60 Black/Pave/Sea Hawk | 0.65 | 53 ft - 8 in | 258 |
| EC-135 | 0.74 | 33 ft - 6 in | 492 |
Will more head speed reduce the pitching up in forward flight ? If so, how much ?
A numeric analysis of head speed, forward speed and nose-up-pitching.
A typical scale heli is about 1250 rpm with 810mm blades giving a rotor diameter of about 72".
That gives a tip speed of 393fps, 268mph or Mach 0.35
It is convenient, for the following numerics, to use a flight speed of 1/10 of the tip speed.
A simplified formula for lift adequate for this analysis is L = V² - - - - Lift = Velocity squared
I will take the lift from the rotor disk and split it to left and right sides and include forward speed.
V = Blade velocity, F = Forward speed
( V + F ) ² + ( V - F ) ² = total lift
multiplying this out gives
V ² + 2 V F + F ² + V ² - 2 V F + F ² = total lift
re-arranging and simplifying gives
2 V ² + 2 F ² = total lift
An interesting observation is that the pieces of the equation that cause the pitching cancelled out in the total lift equation.
What does remain is that an increase in forward speed will increase the total lift (this is transitional lift).
This increase works out to be ( F / V ) ² which is usually compensated for by lowering the collective slightly.
The disappearing pieces are + 2 V F and - 2 V F. These pieces are a rolling force which is gyroscopically
precessed to a pitch-up motion in forward flight.
To get an idea how much this force is, let's put some numbers in the basic equations. I'll use a forward
speed of 1 and a blade velocity of 10 to keep it simple. (multiply by 27 to get real world MPH numbers)
( V + F ) ² + ( V - F ) ²
( 10 + 1 ) ² + ( 10 - 1 ) ²
11² + 9² = 121 + 81 = 202 = total lift value
Using the expanded equation
V ² + 2 V F + F ² + V ² - 2 V F + F ²
100 + 20 + 1 + 100 - 20 + 1 = 202 = total lift value
This shows that total lift is 202 and the rolling force is 40 (+ 20 on one side and - 20 on the other side).
The rolling force is 20% of the total lift which is gyroscopically precessed to a pitch-up motion in forward flight.
That's a bunch ! At only 27 MPH ! And this is increasing proportionately with air speed.
Using the expanded equation, but this time with 50% higher blade velocity and the same forward speed
V ² + 2 V F + F ² + V ² - 2 V F + F ²
225 + 30 + 1 + 225 - 30 + 1 = 452 = total lift value
The rolling force is reduced to 13% of the total lift
To put it another way, by increasing your head speed 50%, you reduce the nose up pitching by 33%.
My analysis is VERY simplified. In reality these numbers are somewhat less because I'm using tip speeds and leaving out the mitigating effects of blade flapping but you get the idea.
The ability of multibladed heads to handle greater stresses at higher head speeds is still in question. The new (Jan-06) solid heads from Century with flexible blades to allow flapping show some promise.