Problem 4.Helicopters. Understanding of torque is even more important for helicopter pilots The large rotors provide lift by pushing air downward. Spinning the rotors fast enough requires a huge torque from the engine,and the reaction torque back on the body of the helicopter rotates the helicopter in the opposite direction. Every helicopter needs another rotor to counter this torque.
This helicopter has a single main rotor that spins around a vertical axis and a small tail rotor that spins around a horizontal axis. The tail rotor provides a torque to balance the counter torque from the main rotor and to rotate (yaw) the aircraft when needed.
(a How long does it take to spin up the main rotor from rest? The engines provide a torque of about 1800N-m.The main rotor has a radius(the length of one rotor blade) of 6.7m.Each of the four rotor blades has a mass of 42.8 kg.The maximum rotation rate of the main rotor is 290rpm.
(b What is the rotational kinetic energy in the main rotor at full speed?
(c When the helicopter is moving forward,the rotor blades on one side are moving toward the front of the helicopter, while the blades on the other side are moving toward the back. If the maximum airspeed of the helicopter is 178 mph,what is the maximum tip speed of the rotor? The requirement for the tip speed to be less than the speed of sound limits the speed of helicopters.
(d The tail rotor needs to compensate for the counter torque from the main rotor,If the axis of the tail rotor is 25 ft from the axis of the main rotor,how much force does it need to apply to keep the helicopter balanced?
(e If the main rotor is rotating counterclockwise when viewed from above, what direction does the tail rotor's force have to be balance the helicopter?