Revitalising advanced rotorcraft research – and the compound helicopter

Abstract

PREFACEI was honoured to have been selected to deliver the 35thNikolsky Honorary Lecture. My graduate education at Princeton University owed much to the influence of Alexander A. Nikolsky, the second faculty member appointed to the Princeton Aeronautical Engineering Department in 1943(1). I arrived in 1963, only months after he passed away, but the memory of his presence was still vivid in the minds of his students and colleagues, as well as the professors who introduced me to rotorcraft(2,3). Bob Lynn, Senior Vice President at Bell Helicopter Textron, one of Nikolsky's most illustrious students, recalled the impact of his teaching in the 12thNikolsky Lecture in 1992(4).

Multi-fidelity aerodynamic design and analysis of propellers for a heavy-lift eVTOL

“…To assess the feasibility of rarely explored heavy-lift eVTOL designs, GKN aerospace recently proposed the Skybus concept with a maximum capacity of 30 passengers, for short-distance transport in densely populated cities. To bridge high-speed and low-speed capabilities, the Skybus vehicle was designed as a compound rotorcraft [2,3] integrating multiple lifting surfaces and six propellers with convertible axes. The propellers are to be powered by electrical motors, and will have both pitch and RPM controls.…”

Toward Vehicle-Level Optimization of Compound Rotorcraft Aerodynamics

“…Through compounding, conventional helicopters can break their inherent speed limitations while maintaining the hover efficiency. The compound rotorcraft are hence a promising choice to bridge the gap between traditional helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, and fill the mission gap between airplanes and conventional low-speed helicopters [2].…”