Modeling Techniques for Dynamic Analysis of a Helicopter Transmission System

This research presents a rotor dynamic, finite element model of a rotary-wing transmission based on first principles. The transmission and model formulation are presented. The effects of the different gearing configurations within the model are discussed. The natural frequencies and mode shapes are extracted using conventional eigenvalue analysis. The frequencies are compared and shown to correspond with experimental results. Observations on the resulting system mode shapes are presented. The model exhibits great potential for use in health monitoring of rotary-wing systems and sensor optimization algorithms.