Determination of the fatigue life of a helicopter tail rotor transmission subjected to ballistic damage

Daniele Colombo, M Giglio

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The aim of this work is to develop a methodology for the evaluation of the ballistic requirements of a helicopter component. The situation studied in the work refers to the possibility of a damaged helicopter performing an emergency manoeuvre and a 30-min return flight after the impact of a 7.62 NATO projectile on a shaft of the tail rotor transmission. The paper describes the finite element methodology adopted to simulate the impact of the projectile on the shaft, and outlines the hypotheses on which this methodology is based. The numerical simulation of the propagation of the crack originating from the damage caused by the impact is also described. It is thus possible to determine the time required to reach failure of the shaft. The effect of the residual stresses on the residual life of the shaft is studied in detail.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)481-499
Number of pages18
JournalEngineering Fracture Mechanics
Volume74
Issue number0
Publication statusPublished - 2007

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