I have a question related to helicopter rotor blade lift.
Here is the lift equation:
The standard wing lift equation is L=0.5 (p) (v^2) (Cl) (S)
‘S’ is wing area (ie rotorblade surface area) and has a direct 1:1 proportionality to lift generation.
Here is the problem.
In the Flight_model.cfg the [Fuselage_aerodynamic] section, vertical and horizontal tail surfaces include a setting for surface area.
In the [Mainrotor] section, there is no way for ‘surface area’ for the mainrotor blade surface area (remember that this is directly proportional to lift) to be calculated using the inputs that are available.
Inputs available in [mainrotor] are:
‘radius’ of main rotor (not the same as blade length)
‘number_of_blades’
‘blade_aspect_ratio’ this is blade length divided by blade chord. Both of these values are undefined.
So there is no way to get from the above inputs to calculate ‘surface area’.
So how is lift calculated for helicopters without an acurate value for surface area of the rotor blades?
The same issue for the ‘tail rotor’ surface area.
Thanks
Stu
PS happy new year