This is the HTML version of a paper presented at:
The American Helicopter Society International Specialists' Meeting, Stratford, Connecticut, October 11-13, 1995.
Abstract
Experiments were conducted to study the aerodynamic interactions between a rotor and a T-tail type empennage during forward flight. A horizontal stabilizer was located at two representative vertical positions on the tail. Both steady and unsteady pressure measurements were made at various chordwise and spanwise stations on the horizontal tail surface. Flow visualization using the wide-field shadowgraph method was also performed. This helped to identify the locations of the rotor tip vortices relative to the empennage, and supported the interpretations of the surface pressure responses. The results have shown that the horizontal stabilizer operated in a highly unsteady environment, with large spanwise and chordwise variations in steady and unsteady pressure. The proximity of the rotor wake boundary was found to be a fundamental factor influencing the flow environment at the horizontal stabilizer.
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