Rotorcraft Active Damage Identification and Control Augmentation for Life Extension (RADICALE)

Rotorcraft, both civilian and military, suffer from higher operating costs relative to their fixed-wing brethren due to cyclical loading that limits the useful lifetime of key structural components. Important recent advances in aeromechanics prediction capabilities, coupled with enhanced modeling of fatigue growth on life-limited parts, now allows development of a methodology both to predict real-time vibratory stresses, and to assess the required control input for the rotorcraft to help minimize these loads, thereby prolonging the lifetimes of highly stressed structures. This effort will combine state-of-the-art comprehensive rotorcraft modeling tools with innovative fatigue models to generate surrogate representation of stress and fatigue metrics that may be used to augment the flight control strategy of rotorcraft, leading to a lower maintenance burden, reduced operating costs, and enhanced operator safety. Validation of the approach will use existing detailed flight test data, demonstration of the control approach will leverage an existing fixed-base simulator, and transition of the technology will be guided with support from a current HUMS manufacturer.