Preparations for testing a full scale OH-6A rotor system with HHC installed

In the 1970's and 198O's Hughes Helicopters, now McDonnell Douglas Helicopters, in conjunction with the U. S. Army and NASA developed and flight tested the first successful Higher Harmonic Control system for the purpose of reducing helicopter vibration levels. In addition to the reduced vi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hagwood, Derle G.
Other Authors: Wood, E.R.
Language:en_US
Published: Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School 2013
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10945/31444
Description
Summary:In the 1970's and 198O's Hughes Helicopters, now McDonnell Douglas Helicopters, in conjunction with the U. S. Army and NASA developed and flight tested the first successful Higher Harmonic Control system for the purpose of reducing helicopter vibration levels. In addition to the reduced vibration levels interesting benefits were also noticed in the areas of acoustic signature and helicopter power requirements. For many years the reduced power requirements could not be explained and therefore were downplayed and not publicized. In the past three years research at the Naval Postgraduate School has been conducted regarding this phenomena and it has been sufficiently explained. The next step in the process is to mount a full scale OH-6A main rotor system on a test stand and conduct testing in order to validate the earlier documented power savings. This thesis documents efforts that have been made in 1994 and 1995 towards accomplishing that goal.