Topology optimization studies have found widespread use with advances in additive manufacturing technologies. A topology optimization method is proposed for the design of a fatigue critical part, namely, a pitch arm made of Al 7050, which transmits the commands to change the pitch attitude to the rotor blades of the helicopter. This study used the bidirectional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) method with the fatigue failure criterion of a closed Soderberg (CS). The mean stress and stress amplitude values used in the procedure were obtained by applying the Manson-McKnight method. The calculations were performed using a Python-based script compatible with Ansys version 2021 R1 software. In the finite-element calculations, the sensitivity number of the elements was determined using the results of the linear static analysis. A volume constraint was applied in the formulation of the optimization problem to minimize the weight of the structure. The results of the classical topology optimization approach and the developed optimization method were compared. The final geometries of both approaches showed that the ranges of volume reduction differed from each other. It was found that the values for the new fatigue-optimized weight of the pitch arm were 18% higher than the values for the static-based classical topology optimization method. However, in general, the weight of the part obtained as a result of fatigue-based topology optimization was reduced by 34% in total.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Fatigue Damage–Based Topology Optimization of Helicopter Tail Rotor Pitch Arm


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2022-09-01




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




    Tail rotor pitch structure of unmanned helicopter

    WANG CHUAN / ZHAO PENGXIN | European Patent Office | 2015

    Free access

    Tail rotor pitch control device and helicopter

    SONG YIMING / LI YUZHE / LI SHIBO et al. | European Patent Office | 2024

    Free access

    Unmanned helicopter tail rotor pitch adjustment control structure

    JIN XI / ZENG DONG / WANG CHANGYOU et al. | European Patent Office | 2021

    Free access

    Landing Trajectory and Control Optimization for Helicopter in Tail Rotor Pitch Lockup

    Yan, Xufei / Chen, Renliang / Xie, Anhuan | Springer Verlag | 2023


    Tail rotor pitch changing mechanism of large unmanned helicopter

    DONG JIAJUN / HONG JIA / FENG LIN et al. | European Patent Office | 2024

    Free access