LIFETIME DETERMINATION OF ULTRALIGHT HELICOPTER BLADES

Determining the guaranteed operational time of helicopter blades is one of the important tasks necessary for successful vehicle use. Flight tests on different modes and special fatigue benches are used to solve such problems. The loads recorded during the flight are applied to ground tests on a bench. The ground fatigue tests of the ultralight helicopter blades have features associated with the influence of the scale factor comparison with the big helicopters. These features are presented in this article as the example of a ground test for a VA115 helicopter blade and a method of recalculating data. The purpose of these tests was to confirm the guaranteed service life of blades and define a reliable method for it.