Citation

Cicolani LS, Cone A, Theron JN, Robinson D, Lusardi J, Tischler MB, Rosen A, Raz R. J. Am. Helicopter Soc. 2009; 54(3): 032006-32018.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, American Helicopter Society)

DOI

10.4050/JAHS.54.032006

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper presents recent results from a cooperative effort by the U.S. Army Aeroflightdynamics Directorate, the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, and Northern Arizona University to study and simulate the behavior of the 6 × 6 × 8 ft CONEX cargo container in forward flight suspended beneath a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. This load, like other cargo containers, is subject to massively separated unsteady flow and is limited by stability to operational airspeeds well below the power-limited speed of the configuration. The study makes use of aerodynamic data from wind tunnel, flight test, and computational fluid dynamics. The objective is a simulation of the helicopter-slung load system validated over the complete flight envelope. The principal remaining technical challenge is a model of the unsteady load aerodynamics capable of predicting the critical unstable speed. Some progress has been made in meeting this challenge. ©2009 American Helicopter Society.