Analysis of composite helicopter structure for missile launch effects

Abstract

This paper concerns the effects of the exhaust plume of a small tactical missile on adjacent advanced composite airframe structures.It is based on the missile launch phase of a recent Army contract to study the effects of cannon muzzle blast, recoil loads and missile exhaust plume effects on advanced composite helicopters. The paper describes the analyses used for the structural analyses, the experimental results and the theory/test correlation obtained.