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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Nonlinear deformation of rotating composite blades

Conference ·
OSTI ID:175363
;  [1];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
  2. NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (United States)
Thick laminated composites such as those used in helicopter blades can experience large elastic displacements and rotations at high r.p.m. Any attempt to design composite helicopter blades must include the effect of motion-induced stiffness in both the longitudinal and chordwise directions. The stress analysis capability must account for the interaction of the nonlinear elastic deformations with the overall dynamic motion. The complexity of the behavior arising from the interaction of large rigid-body translational and rotational motions and large displacements and rotations renders the analytical and numerical predictions very difficult. Although the response of an elastic beam subjected to a sudden slew rate coupled with large elastic deformations has been investigated extensively, there are no analysis regarding the dynamic response of an elastic shell undergoing large overall motion accompanied by large elastic displacements and rotations. This study presents a transient nonlinear finite element analysis within the realm of a multi-body dynamics formulation to determine the dynamic response of a moderately thick laminated shell undergoing a rapid and large rotational motion, and nonlinear elastic deformations. Large strain, rotation and transverse shear deformation are explicitly included in the formulation in order to capture the motion-induced stiffness of the laminate. The analysis utilizes a shear-deformable shallow shell element along with a corotational form of an updated Lagrangian formulation.
OSTI ID:
175363
Report Number(s):
CONF-950686--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English