Rotorcraft and “fast” rotorcraft - what are the key challenges?
Rotorcraft (sometimes referred to as rotary wing aircraft) are aircraft that use lift generated by rotors - these are assemblies comprising several rotor blades that revolve around a mast. Rotorcraft generally have one or more rotors to provide lift throughout the entire flight, and while a helicopter is a type of rotorcraft, not all rotorcraft are helicopters.
There are many applications of rotorcraft across civil transport such as passenger transport, search and rescue, medevac, policing, and surveying. They perform missions which no other aircraft type can accomplish – landing on unprepared territory, landing in urbanised locales, travelling to and from oil rigs in the sea, mountain rescue – operating in all types of hostile environments and weather conditions.
In Clean Sky 2 and in particular in the Fast Rotorcraft Innovative Aircraft Demonstrator Platform (FRC-IADP) two very different types of rotorcraft will be developed and tested in flight - a tiltrotor and a compound rotorcraft. A tiltrotor is an aircraft that generates both lift and propulsion using rotors that are mounted on swivelling engine pods or nacelles, usually mounted on a fixed wing – or are comprised of tilting rotors driven through gearboxes delivering the torque which comes from fixed engines. A tiltrotor can also have rotors that are mounted on fully tilting wings. A compound rotorcraft is an aircraft that combines a rotor with a supplementary propulsion - usually additional thrust engines or propellers.
The challenge in rotorcraft design is always to improve payload-lifting capability, reduce fuel burn and increase the vehicle's range. In Clean Sky 2, the two planned rotorcraft demonstrators have a very specific and novel feature: by combining forward “pull” or thrust with the vertical lift capability, both aircraft models will “bridge the gap” between traditional helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. The increased speed and range for these novel vehicles will enable mission capabilities comparable with fixed-wing aircraft, yet will also be able to take off and land vertically, and, importantly, “hover” in a fixed position over the ground when needed.
In line with Clean Sky 2 environmental objectives, particular emphasis is placed on emissions and noise. Part of the challenge is the fact that rotorcraft often operate in an unusual spectrum of different environments. A case in point is emergency services or medical evacuation helicopters that have to fly in and out of urban and densely populated areas, often following unique flight paths and landing into - and taking off from - the location needing the aircraft’s capability of “airlifting” (e.g. evacuating or rescuing) people.
Read more about Fast Rotorcraft IADP in the CS2 Programme here
Overview
The Fast Rotorcraft IADP consists of two concurrent concepts: the Next Generation Civil TiltRotor (NextGenCTR) demonstrator and the Rapid And Cost Efficient Rotorcraft (RACER) demonstrator - along with transversal activities relevant for both fast rotorcraft concepts that are implemented in the respective Clean Sky 2 Integrated Technology Demonstrators. Other activities cover the methodology for technology evaluation of fast rotorcraft demonstrations and the Eco-Design concept implementation.
Building on the Clean Sky 1 technical accomplishments that feed in to the even more extensive ambitions of Clean Sky 2's NextGenCTR and RACER, the Fast Rotorcraft IADP tackle a multitude of bold, interconnected technology challenges, and will integrate the progress made into a new class of air vehicle: Fast Rotorcraft that bridge the current gap between traditional helicopters and faster, longer range fixed wing aircraft. This will provide new transport and mobility capabilities and open exciting new markets and will firmly establish European aeronautics at the forefront of the civil rotorcraft segment.
The two demonstrators pioneer a new segment within the rotorcraft category, bringing completely new capabilities. With an increased "golden hour distance" these machines are specifically suitable for relevant missions such as search and rescue and medical emergency. In addition, they will enable communities with limited ground infrastructure to fly “faster and further”, supporting future European mobility objectives - of ultimately being able to travel between any two points in the EU within four hours.
In respect to Eco-Design concept implementation, the activities will allow coordinating approaches and work plans in the two demonstration projects regarding the greening of rotorcraft production processes, ensuring complementarity of case studies. The general Life Cycle Assessment approach will be coordinated with the participants of the Eco-Design TA. Benefits of Eco-Design relevant activities performed in the two rotorcraft demonstration projects will be assessed within the broader context of Eco-Design relevant activities performed in other IADP/ITDs.
Demonstrators
The Next-Generation Civil Tiltrotor demonstrator (NextGenCTR) aims to design, install and demonstrate in-flight innovative Civil Tiltrotor technologies enabling future prototype development, and show significant improvement with respect to the current state‐of‐the‐art tiltrotors. The project will also allow the development of R&T activities which will increase the know‐how needed for future tiltrotor aircraft and their operation through a volume of research and innovation activities that are not available today within the EU, and equivalent to that of conventional helicopter platforms.
The Rapid And Cost Efficient Rotorcraft (RACER) demonstrator aims to demonstrate that the compound rotorcraft configuration - implementing and combining cutting-edge technologies - opens up new mobility roles that neither conventional helicopters nor fixed wing aircraft can currently cover in a sustainable way, for both the operators and the industry. The project will combine payload, range and speed capacity in an advanced rotorcraft with agility in vertical flight. This will also include the capability to land on unprepared surfaces with nearby obstacles, and to load and unload rescue personnel and victims while hovering. Other target capabilities of the demonstrator are that it will have a long range, high cruise speed, low fuel consumption and gas emission, low community noise impact, and be productive for operators.
Latest Progress and Results
The Fast Rotorcraft IADP consists of two separate demonstrators, the NextGenCTR Tiltrotor and the RACER compound helicopter:
- In 2020, the NGCTR technology demonstrator successfully performed all the planned subsystems critical design reviews and the Technology Demonstrator Critical Design gate was reached in December 2020. The latter demonstrated a level of helicopter design maturity sufficient to launch the manufacturing, assembly, integration and test phases.
- The RACER compound demonstrator’s critical design review (CDR) took place in July 2019 with some actions identified and closed further between Q4/2019 and Q1/2020. The manufacturing of major sub-systems and the long lead-time items procurement continued throughout 2020. Major subsystems (e.g. canopy, central fuselage airframe), were completed and delivered to Airbus’ site for the final assembly phase. Key ground test benches were also run (e.g. lateral shaft dynamics, electrical generation and distribution systems, systems integration rig).
Read more in the latest CS2 Annual Activity Report (3.28 MB) "pdf" and Highlight Report.
CS2 Members in Fast Rotorcraft IADP
Leaders Regional Fast Rotorcraft IADP
- Airbus Helicopters SAS
- Leonardo - Societa Per Azioni
Core Partners Fast Rotorcraft IADP
- INSTITUTUL NATIONAL DE CERCETARE-DEZVOLTARE AEROSPATIALA "ELIE CARAFOLI"- INCAS BUCURESTI
- UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI FEDERICO II.
- GE AVIO SRL
- Romaero S.A.
- Protom Group S.pA
- Triumph Actuation Systems - UK Ltd
- LATELEC SAS
- Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali SCPA
- MAGNAGHI AERONAUTICA SPA
- TECHNO SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT SRL
- SIA CENTRE COMPOSITE
- M&S ENGINEERING Sk s. r. o.
- IBK-INNOVATION GMBH & CO. KG
- STEP SUD MARE SRL
- Salver S.p.A
- OFFICINE MECCANICHE IRPINE SRL
- UMBRAGROUP SPA
CS2 GAPs in Fast Rotorcraft IADP
In total, 47 Grant Agreements for Partners were awarded in the Fast Rotorcraft IADP, representing a total EU contribution of €64.14 m.
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