Modeling Helicopter Near-Horizon Harmonic Noise due to Transient Maneuvers

Abstract

A new first principles model has been developed to estimate the external harmonic noise radiation for a helicopter performing transient maneuvers in the longitudinal plane. This model, which simulates the longitudinal fuselage dynamics, main rotor blade flapping, and far field acoustics, was validated using in-flight measurements and recordings from ground microphones during a full-scale flight test featuring a Bell 206B-3 helicopter. The flight test was specifically designed to study transient maneuvers. The validated model demonstrated that the flapping of the main rotor blades does not significantly affect the acoustics radiated by the helicopter during maneuvering flight. Furthermore, the model also demonstrated that Quasi-Static Acoustic Mapping (Q-SAM) methods can be used to reliably predict the noise radiated during transient maneuvers. The model was also used to identify and quantify the contributions of main rotor thickness noise, low frequency loading noise, and blade-vortex interaction (BVI) noise during maneuvering flight for the Bell 206B-3 helicopter. Pull-up and push-over maneuvers from pure longitudinal cyclic and pure collective control inputs were investigated. The contribution of thickness noise and low frequency loading noise during maneuvering flight was found to depend on the orientation of the tip-path plane relative to the observer. The contribution of impulsive BVI noise during maneuvering flight was found to depend on the inflow through the main rotor and the orientation of the tip-path plane relative to the observer.