Chinese Journal of Aeronautics, (2017), 30(4): 1427–1440

Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics

& Beihang University
Chinese Journal of Aeronautics
cja@buaa.edu.cn
www.sciencedirect.com

Optimal deployment schedule of an active twist

rotor for performance enhancement and vibration
reduction in high-speed flights
Young H. YOU, Sung N. JUNG *, Chang J. KIM

Department of Aerospace Information Engineering, Konkuk University, Seoul 05019, Republic of Korea

Received 31 May 2016; revised 28 October 2016; accepted 21 January 2017

Available online 7 June 2017

KEYWORDS Abstract The best active twist schedules exploiting various waveform types are sought taking
Active twist; advantage of the global search algorithm for the reduction of hub vibration and/or power required
High-speed flight; of a rotor in high-speed conditions. The active twist schedules include two non-harmonic inputs
Hub vibration; formed based on segmented step functions as well as the simple harmonic waveform input. An
Non-harmonic; advanced Particle Swarm assisted Genetic Algorithm (PSGA) is employed for the optimizer. A
Power required rotorcraft Computational Structural Dynamics (CSD) code CAMRAD II is used to perform the
rotor aeromechanics analysis. A Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code is coupled with CSD
for verification and some physical insights. The PSGA optimization results are verified against
the parameter sweep study performed using the harmonic actuation. The optimum twist schedules
according to the performance and/or vibration reduction strategy are obtained and their optimiza-
tion gains are compared between the actuation cases. A two-phase non-harmonic actuation
schedule demonstrates the best outcome in decreasing the power required while a four-phase
non-harmonic schedule results in the best vibration reduction as well as the simultaneous reductions
in the power required and vibration. The mechanism of reduction to the performance gains is iden-
tified illustrating the section airloads, angle-of-attack distribution, and elastic twist deformation
predicted by the present approaches.
Ó 2017 Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd. This is
an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction

A rotor’s flow field in forward flight is complicated due to the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: snjung@konkuk.ac.kr (S.N. JUNG).
Peer review under responsibility of Editorial Committee of CJA.
Production and hosting by Elsevier
rotation and movement of the rotor in the edgewise direction.1
In high-speed conditions, the tip regions in the advancing side
are under high dynamic pressure and transonic effect while the
retreating side is confronted with low dynamic pressure and
retreating blade stall, resulting in a loss of symmetry laterally.
Due to the asymmetric nature of the flows, a rotor is prone to

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cja.2017.04.017
1000-9361 Ó 2017 Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
1428
high vibration and noise as well as low performance character-
istics compared with a fixed-wing counterpart. To overcome
the disadvantages of a rotor, many active control concepts
and mechanisms have been devised as potential engineering
solutions. Among these methods, the Active Twist Rotor
(ATR) concept offers such advantages as follows: no hydraulic
power systems and separate mechanical parts are needed since
the rotor blades are directly twisted using the induced-strain
actuation concept while the actuator itself serving as a part
of the blade structure. The ATR was pioneered by Chen and
Chopra2 using direct strain components of embedded piezoce-
ramic elements. Detailed discussion of the ATR and its devel-
opment can be found in Chopra’s work.3 Thakkar and
Ganguli4,5 and Pawar and Jung6 used induced-shear based
piezoceramic actuation to benefit the ATR.
For the twist actuation, most of the previous research has
been performed using harmonic-based functions introduced
into the rotor blade individually. In this case, the amplitude
and phase of specific actuation frequencies are varied
arbitrarily for the twist control. The representative work is
the NASA/Army/MIT rotor tested in the NASA Langley
Transonic Dynamics Tunnel.7,8 Either of 3/rev to 5/rev (per
revolution) actuation was applied to the actuator materials
embedded in the blade to reduce vibration and Blade-Vortex
Interaction (BVI) noise. Yeo9 investigated the relative
performance of several active control concepts including
the ATR. A 2/rev harmonic input was applied to enhance
the rotor performance. Changes in the rotor lift-to-drag ratio
were traced to quantify the actuator gains. Recently, an inter-
national joint program called Smart Twisting Active Rotor
(STAR) was launched to realize the benefit of the ATR con-
cept for performance improvement, vibration reduction, and
noise alleviation of a scaled Bo-105 rotor.10 In a numerical
simulation, up to 5/rev harmonic inputs were applied to a vari-
ety of flight conditions. The preliminary study showed good
potential in reaching the goals though the predicted outcomes
should be verified by performing a series of wind tunnel tests.
The control inputs used in the above studies are simple in nat-
ure and relatively easy to apply; however, the overall gain is
limited since the control waveforms are generally not opti-
mized and do not reflect the operational environments that a
rotor faces in diverse flight regimes.
A more generic and non-harmonic form of twist inputs has
been found growing interests to further benefit the smart rotor
concept. In this actuation, arbitrary waveforms based on a step
or saw-type function are generated to activate a rotor. Fogarty
et al.11 used a step input to examine the BVI noise character-
istic by the actuation of an Macro Fiber Composites (MFC)
actuator embedded in portions of an Apache AH-64A blade.
The step input was characterized by the rotor’s azimuthal loca-
tion to the start, duration, and magnitude of the actuation. A
noise reduction up to 10 dB was reached with the non-
harmonic twist control. It was indicated that the noise reduc-
tion gain was highly dependent on the choice of the initial azi-
muthal location and the duration of the actuation profile. Jain
et al.12 investigated several on-blade active controls including
the active twist control for improving the rotor performance.
An advancing-side-only actuation with a 2/rev harmonic input
was adopted in the twist control. The proposed waveform was
found to be effective in improving the rotor performance par-
ticularly in a high-speed flight regime.
Y.H. YOU et al.
Recently, You et al.13 conducted a preliminary optimiza-
tion to search for the best twist deployment schedules using
a modern evolutionary algorithm.14 The goal was to improve
performance and to reduce vibration in diverse flight condi-
tions. A rotorcraft Computational Structural Dynamics
(CSD) analysis code CAMRAD II15 was employed for the
aeromechanics analysis. Five different actuation scenarios
including two harmonic and three non-harmonic waveforms
were considered for the twist inputs. Promising results with
increased gains were obtained; however, only the CSD
approach was conducted in the analysis. You and Jung16 have
refined their investigation by focusing on non-harmonic actu-
ations that may reflect a rotor’s operational environments.
The CSD analysis was loosely coupled with a Computational
Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code to verify the optimum results
and to explain the physics leading to the improvement by the
twist control. The flight regime was confined to a low-speed
descending flight.
The present study focuses on high-speed forward flights
where both vibration and performance have been significant
concerns during the operation of a rotorcraft. It is aimed at
finding the best actuation scenarios for performance improve-
ment and/or vibration reduction of a rotor using specified non-
harmonic ATR inputs taking advantage of the global search
algorithm adopted previously. Either two-phase or four-
phase segmented non-harmonic waveforms along with a sim-
ple harmonic input are introduced. The optimum results
obtained using the harmonic input are verified against those
by a parameter sweep study computed sparsely over the whole
design space. Next, the best twist actuation schedules charac-
terized for vibration and/or performance are sought using
the proposed non-harmonic waveform profiles. A CFD/CSD
coupled analysis is carried out to investigate the mechanism
of reduction in power required with the introduction of twist
control in a high-speed flight regime.
2. Analytical methods
2.1. Active twist scenarios
For improved performance of a rotor, the actuation schedules
should be determined considering the rotor’s operational envi-
ronments in specific flight conditions. Fig. 1 shows respective
ATR scenarios adopted in the present study. As is depicted,
the rotor disk is split into a number of zones under different
control laws with respect to the actuation scenarios. The
shaded regions indicate the zones with the twist application
whereas the blank region indicates no actuation region. Tradi-
tionally, Single Harmonic (SH) actuation such as the one pre-
sented in Fig. 1(a) has been widely used for its simplicity in
shape and ease of operation with the function. In this schedule
SH, each blade is actuated harmonically over the whole rotor
disk area (without pause) as
TðwÞ ¼ A cosðnw  /Þ ð1Þ
where T is the twisting moment, w the rotor’s azimuth angle, A
the amplitude of the twisting couple, n the harmonic number,
and / the phase angle.
Given the harmonic actuation Case SH as a reference, two
other ATR scenarios formed based on a step (non-harmonic)
function are introduced to effectively counter the complicated
Optimal deployment schedule of an active twist rotor
Fig. 1 Twist actuation scenarios.
aerodynamic fields apparent in a forward flight and their inter-
actions with other disciplines (e.g., vibration and noise). Cases
NHa and NHb shown in Fig. 1 are the proposed non-
harmonic actuation profiles. For Case NHa (Fig. 1(b)), both
the advancing and retreating sides of the rotor disk are placed
under different control laws with appropriate waveform
inputs. This two-phase scenario is tailored to the aerodynamic
environment of a helicopter rotor particularly in a high-speed
forward flight where the advancing side undergoes high
dynamic pressure while the retreating side suffers from the
reversed flow and the stall. In addition, Case NHb (Fig. 1(c))
is capable of considering each quadrant of the rotor separately.
This four-phase scenario is suited to counter BVI-like events in
which interacting vortices are generated originally in the sec-
ond or third quadrant while BVI occurs in the first and fourth
quadrants referenced from the rear of the rotor disk.16 For
non-harmonic actuations, the surface actuators are activated
under constant voltage inputs during the designated intervals
(shaded regions) in the rotor’s azimuthal plane to modify the
rotor’s incidence angles for altering local aerodynamics and
thereby alleviating hazardous interaction events unless other-
wise unavoidable.
2.2. Actuator model in rotorcraft aeromechanics analysis
A rotorcraft CSD code CAMRAD II15 is used to analyze the
rotor. The blade motion is represented by three translational
(axial, flap, and lead-lag) and three rotational Degrees of Free-
dom (DOFs) resulting in 15 DOFs per beam element. A total
of 18 nonlinear beam finite elements distributed along the span
length are used to model the blade. The ONERA-EDLIN
unsteady aerodynamic theory along with C81 airfoil table
look-up is used for the aerodynamic loads acting on blades.
In CSD analysis, a rolled-up free wake or prescribed wake rep-
resentation is used to obtain the rotor-induced fields. The
rolled-up vortex wake model is based on the feature that a
tip vortex forms at the blade tip and convects to the flow field
behind the rotor. Given the feature that tip vortices in high-
speed flights convect aft and below the rotor disk rather
quickly and the wake geometry is well-preserved, the pre-
scribed wake model is adopted in the present CSD analysis.
This feature will be discussed later in a separate section. Only
an isolated rotor condition is considered to simplify the
analysis.
The active twist model is facilitated in CAMRAD II by
applying torsional moments with equal and opposite magni-
1429
tudes at both extremities over the actuator zone of the blade.
Fig. 2 shows the schematic of the ATR control under the appli-
cation of a torsional couple, in which hT is the active twist
angle. It is assumed that the MFC actuator is embedded in
the blade skin, spanning 24% to 96% radial stations of the
rotor. It is assumed that the applied torsional couple results
in a linear variation of the twist angle along the blade span.
Note that a positive twist couple produces a nose-up pitch
motion. The actuator region in the blade is modelled using 6
beam finite elements. The effect of the embedded piezoelectric
actuators on the structural properties of the blade is neglected.
To implement the non-harmonic input in the analysis of
CAMRAD II, Fourier analysis is performed to produce a ser-
ies of harmonic components equivalent to the step function
waveform. Harmonics of up to 19/rev are used to represent
the step function. Using the Fourier transformation, the
non-harmonic control input is represented by the following
relation:
X
Nh
TðwÞ ¼ B0 þ Bn cosðnw  /n Þ ð2Þ
n¼1
where B0 is the steady twisting moment, Nh the total number
of harmonic contents, and Bn and /n are the amplitudes and
phases of nth harmonic frequencies, respectively.
2.3. Optimization framework
An advanced global search algorithm Particle Swarm assisted
Genetic Algorithm (PSGA)14 is employed to systematically
search the whole design space. The PSGA consists of two
phases: Particle Swarm (PS) and Genetic Algorithm (GA)
phases. The PS phase regulates the enhancement of the worst
solutions using the global–local best inertia weight and the
acceleration coefficients to increase the overall efficiency. In
Fig. 2 Schematic of an Active Twist Rotor (ATR).
1430
the GA phase, a Rank-based Multi-Parent Crossover (RMPC)
is used which is formulated through the modification of cross-
over and mutation operators leading to concurrent exploration
of local and global optimum solutions. The polynomial muta-
tion with a variable mutation probability is used for the genetic
diversity. To maintain the population diversity, the Euclidean
distance-based niching is implemented in the replacement
phase of the GA. A stagnation check is performed to avoid set-
tling near the local optima and the solution is randomized in
the design space when called. A feasible population-based
relaxation scheme is used for the linear as well as the nonlinear
constraints. The optimization loop is continued until the glo-
bal optimum solution is reached or the termination criteria
are satisfied.
In this study, the total population size is set to 20 with 10
each for the PS and GA phases. The binary tournament selec-
tion is used as the selection scheme. For the RMPC operator,
the limits of the scaling factor are set to Smin = 0.50 and
Smax = 0.98 while the crossover rates fall between 0.80 and
0.98. The number of design variables varies with cases in the
optimization study. Case SH has three design variables which
include the harmonic number (frequency), and the amplitude
and phase of a specified twist input. Cases NHa and NHb con-
sist of six and twelve design variables, respectively, which
include the actuation magnitude and the rotor’s azimuthal
location to start and duration for each step function according
to the actuation scenarios.
The optimization framework is constructed to systemati-
cally search for the optimum ATR input profiles. It has been
built based on an evolutionary algorithm PSGA combined with
the rotorcraft CSD code CAMRAD II. The goal is to minimize
the hub vibratory loads and power required, either by individ-
ually or collectively. Weight factors are introduced to deal with
the multi-objective function. The problem is stated as
8 (HART) II rotor tested at the German-Dutch Wind tunnel
< min fðxÞ ¼ b PðxÞ  P0 þ b VIðxÞ  VI0
1
P0 2
VI0 ð3Þ
:
s:t: x 6 x 6 x
L U
where b1 and b2 are the weight factors, xL and xU as the lower
and upper bounds of the design variable vector, respectively,
and subscript ‘‘0” indicates the baseline uncontrolled values.
P and VI represent the total power required and the vibration
index, respectively. The VI is defined in terms of kNb/rev hub
loads where k is the integer and Nb is the total number of
blades, which is given by17
2qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi3
X ðFx;i =2Þ2 þ ðFy;i =1:5Þ2 þ F2z;i
VI ¼ 4 þ
W0
i¼kN b performance perspective. For the propulsive trim, the rotor
where Fx, Fy, and Fz represent the hub shears, and Mx and My
hub moments with x, y, and z denoting the longitudinal, lat-
eral, and vertical axes in the hub fixed coordinate system,
respectively. Index i denotes the harmonic content of the inte-
ger multiples of the number of blades, W0 is the rotorcraft
weight, and R is the rotor radius. It is noted that the hub
shears are scaled as given in Eq. (4) according to the technical
specifications.17
Fig. 3 shows the flow diagram of the present optimization
framework. The procedure for finding the optimal ATR input
Y.H. YOU et al.
Fig. 3 Flow diagram of Particle Swarm assisted Genetic
Algorithm (PSGA) optimization framework.
using the PSGA is described as follows. The reference values
for the power required and/or the vibration index are calcu-
lated first. Next, a CAMRAD II input file that contains ran-
domly generated harmonic values with respect to the ATR
input is created, and their corresponding power required and
vibration level are computed. The optimization algorithm
PSGA then generates initial candidate solutions in the design
search space. The suggested ATR control inputs are fed into
CAMRAD II to calculate the power and hub vibratory loads.
The calculated results are used to evaluate the objective func-
tion. The updated design solutions are sorted and ranked
according to the feasibility represented by the newly computed
objective function values. The optimization loop is continued
until the best optimum solution is reached.
3. Results and discussion
The Higher harmonic control Aeroacoustic Rotor Test
(DNW) in 200118 is used as a reference. The rotor has a
four-bladed hingeless configuration with a solidity of 0.077
and a blade radius of 2 m. The HART II rotor installed with
MFC actuators under the skin structure is considered as the
present active rotor model which is designated as HART II
ATR. In the wind tunnel test campaign of the HART II rotor,
a zero-moment trim is used for the trim targets. This trim strat-
egy is acceptable for a vibration and noise study; however, it
will be inappropriate to estimate the performance (e.g., power
required) since the propulsive force or drag is neglected in the
trim.19 Thus, changing the trim methods into a propulsive trim
M2x;i þ M2y;i that incorporates the propulsive force as one of the trim vari-
5 ables is needed to evaluate the influence of ATR inputs on the
W0 R
ð4Þ drag force Hx (see Fig. 4) is estimated using the formula given
by20
rCD0
Hx ¼ qpR4 X2 ð3l þ 1:98l2:7 Þ ð5Þ
8
where q is the air density, X the rotor rotational speed, r the
solidity ratio, CD0 the mean airfoil drag coefficient, and l
the advance ratio. It is remarked that a change in the trim
methods should not alter the fundamental characteristics of
the rotor, which has been verified in the authors’ previous
studies.13,16 Table 1 presents the trim targets calculated for
the HART II ATR at an advance ratio of l = 0.35.
Optimal deployment schedule of an active twist rotor
Fig. 4 Forces acting on rotor planes.
Table 1 Comparison of trim targets of HART II ATR in a
high-speed forward flight (l = 0.35).
Trim target Value
Thrust (N) 3353
Rotor drag force (N) 61.6
Hub roll moment (Nm) 0
In the following sub-sections, the proposed optimization
framework is verified using Case SH as a reference to the
parameter sweep. Then the vibration and performance aspects
of the HART II ATR in high-speed forward flights are exam-
ined with the actuation schedules depicted in Fig. 1.
3.1. Parameter study for validation of optimum result
A parametric sweep study with a single harmonic input (Case
SH) according to the actuation frequencies, amplitudes, and
phase angles is carried out to examine the vibration and per-
formance characteristic of the HART II ATR and to validate
the optimization results. To this end, the amplitudes of the
twist moment couple are varied from 1 to 4 Nm with an
increase of 1 Nm (DT = 1 Nm) while the phase angle is chan-
ged from 0° to 360° by varying 60° (D/ = 60°) for the respec-
tive actuation frequencies of 2/rev to 5/rev. Note that a coarse
resolution is adopted in the parameter sweep to avoid heavy
computational burden encompassing the whole design space.
Only a high-speed forward flight condition is considered in this
study.
Fig. 5 shows the percentage changes in the total power
required at 2/rev actuation with varying amplitudes and phase
angles of SH input signals, obtained with reference to the base-
line uncontrolled rotor. It is indicated that the active twist
introduces substantial variation (up to 5% in peak-to-peak)
in the power required to demonstrate the potential of the
ATR in practical applications. The condition of the best power
required is denoted as a diamond in Fig. 5 and is obtained at
an amplitude of 3 Nm and a 240° phase angle. The reduction
is about 0.76% as compared to that of the baseline uncon-
trolled rotor. The percentage variations in the VI with respect
to that of the baseline rotor are presented in Fig. 6. Based on
the frequency sweep, the most effective actuation frequency in
reducing vibration is seen to be 3/rev, and the other frequency
1431
Fig. 5 Variation of total power required at 2/rev actuation due
to amplitude/phase sweep.
Fig. 6 Variation of Vibration Index (VI) at 3/rev actuation due
to amplitude/phase sweep.
results are not presented explicitly. As is indicated in Fig. 6, the
minimum vibration is achieved at 3/rev with a 2 Nm ampli-
tude and a 120° phase angle. The reduction gain is about
51% based from the uncontrolled case.
The parameter sweep results presented above are used as a
reference for the verification of the present optimization frame-
work. Case SH is again considered for comparison purpose. In
the optimization, the design space is discretised using a finer
resolution: DT = 0.1 Nm and D/ = 1° when compared with
the sweep study case. Table 2 shows the comparison between
the parameter sweep results and the optimum solutions by
the PSGA obtained respectively for the power required.
Despite the difference in search methods, the agreement
between their predicted results is generally good. The devia-
tions in both actuation conditions are mainly due to the usage
of much finer resolutions in the optimization than in the
parameter sweep study. It is observed that the PSGA optimum
leads to an about 16% larger reduction in the power required
than that of the parameter sweep. Table 3 presents the compar-
ison of the minimum vibration obtained between the two
methods. Again, a reasonable correlation is obtained for the
control parameters predicted for the minimum vibration. It
1432 Y.H. YOU et al.

Table 2 Comparison of results between parameter sweep and

PSGA optimum for a minimum power required.
Parameter Parameter sweep PSGA optimum
Frequency (rev1) 2 2
Amplitude (Nm) 3 2.8
Phase angle (°) 240 246
Percentage change 0.76 0.90

Table 3 Comparison of results between parameter sweep and

PSGA optimum for a minimum vibration.
Parameter Parameter sweep PSGA optimum
1
Frequency (rev ) 3 3
Amplitude (Nm) 2 1.6
Phase angle (°) 120 125
Percentage change 51 52

is indicated that the optimum algorithm results in improved

gains due to using finer search space intervals for the design
variables and, more importantly, employing a modern evolu-
tionary algorithm to systematically search for the design space
in the global manner. Based on the comparison study, it is con-
cluded that the present optimization is reliable and suitable to
find the best ATR control inputs at given flight conditions.
3.2. Influence of rotor wake models
In hover, transition, and low-speed descending flights, the vor-
tex wakes generated from the preceding blades remain close to
the rotor disk and may invoke unsteady fluctuations leading to
significant changes in rotor-induced velocities as well as the
wake geometry. In this situation, a free vortex wake model that
can describe the wake distortion in space and time due to the
blade motion is desired to calculate accurate blade loadings. It
requires computation of the vorticity transport equations for
each blade until both wake geometries and induced velocity
fields reach a convergence.21 This process involves a number
of iterations which are costly in terms of computation. In
high-speed forward flights, however, the tip vortices convect
aft and below the rotor plane rather quickly, and thus the
wake geometry is less distorted and a rigid wake geometry
assumption will be valid without a significant error which
makes the analysis simple and computationally more effec-
tive.22 In addition, high-speed flights may induce negative
loadings near the blade tip in the advancing side of the rotor
resulting in a counter-rotating vortex system.23 Therefore, a
dual peak wake model is needed to take into account the effect
correctly. Fig. 7 compares the trim control angles as well as the
section airloads Ma2Cn (Ma is the Mach number and Cn the
section normal force coefficient) of the baseline HART II
ATR predicted using the prescribed (rigid) wake model and
a rolled-up free wake model. For both wake representations,
the dual peak model is adopted. A square root growth with
an initial core radius of 0.2c (c is the chord length) is assumed
for the wake evolution. As expected, no significant deviation is
observed between the two wake models. Based on the observa-
tions, only the prescribed wake model is used in this study for
computational efficiency.
Fig. 7 Effects of wake models on trim control angles and section
normal forces Ma2Cn (l = 0.35).
It should be mentioned that the authors have been involved
in the validation study of the HART II rotor for the last dec-
ade, particularly in low-speed descending flights.24–26 Consid-
ering the low-speed flights of the HART II rotor where a
close vortex encounter is expected, a rolled-up free vortex wake
model has been employed for the computation of airloads.
Reasonable correlations are reached with comprehensive
dynamics analysis. The details of validation results for various
cases (including the baseline case18) of the HART II rotor in
descents can be found in the works of Jung and his associ-
ates24–26, which are not repeated for compactness. Since
CSD predictions using the unsteady aerodynamics analysis
with the rolled-up wake model have been verified from the
extensive validation study of the HART II rotor in descents,
the same free wake model is employed as a reference to cross
check the accuracy of the predicted results with the prescribed
wake model for the rotor in high-speed conditions.
3.3. Optimum vibration/performance study
The simulation results for the optimal actuation of the rotor in
high-speed forward flights are discussed. Fig. 8 shows the per-
centage change in the power required along with the overall
vibration VI obtained for the actuation cases with reference
to the baseline uncontrolled rotor when the objective function
is engaged only to maximize the rotor performance (i.e.,
b2 = 0 in Eq. (3)). As is seen, either non-harmonic twist
schedule (Cases NHa and NHb) indicates superior perfor-
mance than their harmonic counterpart Case SH. The best
performance gain is reached with Case NHa, which exhibits
a 1.5% reduction in the total power required, whereas a
0.9% reduction is obtained with Case SH. Given that the
Optimal deployment schedule of an active twist rotor
Fig. 8 Percentage changes of total power required and vibration
index at performance optimum input.
objective function is engaged only with the performance opti-
mization, however, the VI becomes increased for all the actu-
ation cases. The largest increment is found also with the
same Case NHa, which illustrates the inherent complexity of
the problem.
Fig. 9 shows the resulting actuation deployment scenarios
for the cases considered. Case NHa that shows the most
remarkable gains (Fig. 8) is represented as the solid continuous
line while the other cases are denoted as the dotted line (Case
SH) and the dashed-dot line (Case NHb), respectively. It is
seen that the deployment schedules differ substantially
between the cases, except near the front and rear zones of
the rotor disk. This is somewhat different from the low-
speed descending flight conditions13 where a close similarity
Fig. 9 Optimum input scenarios according to actuation sched-
ules at performance optimum input.
Fig. 10 Comparison of active twist inputs between actuation scenarios at performance optimum input.
1433
between the actuation schedules is clearly attained. It is prob-
able that the high-speed forward flight conditions contain mul-
tiple optima for the minimum power resulting in significant
variations in the twist deployment schedules. The deviations
in actuation profiles affect the vibration characteristic in a
large scale, as observed in Fig. 8. The twist actuations actually
bring changes in pitch angles via elastic twist deformation.
Fig. 10 presents the total (elastic plus rigid) pitch angles at
the blade tip as well as the net elastic twist angles obtained
for the cases considered in Fig. 8. Note that the baseline
uncontrolled results are also inserted in the plot for a reference
purpose. As is seen in Fig. 10(a), all the cases produce nearly
identical waveforms for the total pitch angle by the re-
trimming process. However, the corresponding elastic twist
deformations according to the twist scenarios appear quite dis-
similar as expected from the actuation profiles depicted in
Fig. 9. Among the cases, the best optimum performance profile
NHa indicates more deviations compared to the other two. A
predominant elastic pitch-down motion in most of the advanc-
ing region along with prevailed pitch-up in the retreating
region is observed in Case NHa. It should be mentioned that,
other than the harmonic actuation, the non-harmonic sched-
ules represent significant offset moments leading to biased elas-
tic twist responses as seen in Fig. 10. However, this biased
response is countered by cyclic pitch control inputs in the
course of re-trimming the rotor.
The mechanism of a reduction in power required is
explained considering the distribution of section airloads over
the rotor disk. Fig. 11 shows the section normal force Ma2Cn
obtained for the baseline and Case NHa, denoted in a contour
format. It is indicated that the section airloads become redis-
tributed after the application of the ATR input. It should be
mentioned that the negative loading zones present around
the azimuth angle of 90° at the blade tip for the baseline case
are shifted more toward the second quadrant with decreased
strengths by the actuation NHa. To aid this observation, the
Angles of Attack (AOA) as well as DAOA distributions
obtained for the two Cases are presented in Figs. 12 and 13,
respectively. The DAOA is obtained by subtracting the AOA
of the baseline case from that of case NHa. It is observed that,
by the ATR input for Case NHa, the AOA’s particularly in the
inboard region around 90° azimuth angles are increased
slightly. This increase is accompanied by a decrease of the
AOA in the retreating side, which is balanced out by the trim
1434 Y.H. YOU et al.

Fig. 11 Effect of twist actuation (Case NHa) on section normal forces Ma2Cn at performance optimum input.

Fig. 12 Effect of twist actuation (Case NHa) on AOA distribution at performance optimum input.

Fig. 14 shows the percentage change in the power required

Fig. 13 Effect of twist actuation (Case NHa) on DAOA at
performance optimum input.
process. The increase in the AOA induced by the twist actua-
tion around the azimuth angle of 90° appears to be responsible
for alleviating the negative loadings and improving the perfor-
mance for Case NHa.
and the overall vibration of the three ATR schedules when the
objective function is engaged with the vibration only. In this
situation, the weight factor b2 in Eq. (3) is activated while b1
is nullified. As is expected, the vibration levels for all the cases
are decreased significantly while the power required increases
somewhat. Among the twist scenarios, Case NHb exhibits
the best vibration reduction amounting about 61% and Case
NHa shows the least vibration reduction gain. In Fig. 15, the
twist deployment schedules with respect to the cases are pre-
sented for comparison purpose. Despite the differences in the
waveforms of the cases, there exist some similarities along
the rotor azimuth. Particularly, the best vibration reduction
Case NHb produces a positive (pitch-up) twist moment in
parts of the advancing side and a negative twist moment in
the third quadrant of the rotor disk which are essentially in
phase with those of the harmonic actuation Case SH. In gen-
eral, Case NHa misses this pattern except near either 90° or
270° azimuth angle zones where the actuation input is in phase
with that of Case SH. The similarity in waveform patterns
between Cases NHa and SH attributes to a larger vibration
reduction than that in Case NHb. One thing to point out is
that, when comparing the twist schedules between Figs. 9
and 15, the pitch-down input in portions of the advancing side
Optimal deployment schedule of an active twist rotor
Fig. 14 Percentage changes of total power required and VI at
vibration optimum input.
Fig. 15 Optimum input scenarios according to actuation sched-
ules at vibration optimum input.
generated possibly to counter the negative loading in the per-
formance optimization (Case NHa) gets almost reversed (i.e.,
pitch-up) for Case NHb at the vibration optimum input. This
again illustrates the complexity and significance of introducing
proper deployment scenarios in active rotor applications.
A simultaneous reduction in both the power required and
the overall vibration is attempted next. To this purpose, the
weighting factors in Eq. (3) are activated at once. Since the per-
formance and vibration measures are fundamentally different
from each other, an appropriate scaling law is required to
make their contributions comparable and meaningful. In this
study, each weight factor bi is varied accordingly to match
the relative magnitudes (power required vs vibration) nearly
identical. Fig. 16 presents the percentage changes in the power
required and hub vibration with respect to the baseline values.
It is seen that, with the multi-objective optimization, both the
total power required and the overall vibration become
decreased significantly. Among the actuation cases, Case
NHb shows a good potential in reducing vibration and
enhancing performance in a simultaneous manner. The vibra-
tion index is reduced by 49% while the power required is
decreased by 0.6%. Note that the vibration level in Case
NHa is increased slightly (within 1%) compared to the baseline
values. This increase may be countered by adjusting the weight
factors; however, no attempt is made considering the level of
increase is virtually negligible. It should be mentioned that
the weight factors in the multi-objective optimization can be
varied appropriately to produce the best outcomes for vibra-
tion and/or performance. The corresponding ATR schedules
for each of the actuation cases are compared in Fig. 17. The
1435
Fig. 16 Percentage changes of total power required and VI at
simultaneous vibration/performance optimum input.
Fig. 17 Optimum input scenarios according to actuation sched-
ules at simultaneous vibration/performance optimum input.
relative waveforms appear in phase with each other as can
be seen in the plot.
3.4. CFD/CSD coupled results
A CFD/CSD coupled analysis which allows a physics-based
simulation is indeed necessary for improved predictions on
the vibration and performance of a rotorcraft. Since this
refined approach inevitably comes at the cost of a heavy com-
putational burden, it gets easily impractical when the rotor-
craft aeromechanics analysis is combined with an
optimization algorithm where a number of iterative computa-
tions are required. To circumvent the computational issue and
figure out the detailed physics behind the performance gains
due to the twist actuation, the optimized schedules reached
using the CSD approach are simply adopted for more refined
analysis by a loose CFD/CSD coupling. A structured, com-
pressible Navier–Stokes solver KFLOW is used for the CFD
code.27 The same loose coupling algorithm adopted by Jung
et al.28,29 and known as delta airloads technique is employed
to couple the CAMRAD II and KFLOW codes. In this
method, the information between the blade motion results
from the CSD code and the airloads from the CFD analysis
is exchanged to the other code per revolution basis. The cou-
pling iteration is marched until the airloads, blade motions,
and control angles do not vary significantly between the cou-
pling iterations. The coupling generally requires 6 to 7 iteration
cycles before the final convergence is reached. Interested read-
ers may find more details of the loose coupling algorithm from
Refs.28,29
1436
Fig. 18 CFD grid system for an isolated HART II ATR.
A moving overlapped Chimera grid system with two differ-
ent types of grids (blade grid and background grid) is
employed to describe the flow field around the rotor. An iso-
lated rotor condition is assumed and the effects of the fuselage
and the hub are neglected. Fig. 18 shows a perspective view of
the grid system for the whole computational domain for the
HART II ATR rotor. The C-mesh topology is used to create
the blade grids. The blade grids extend 1.5 times of the chord
length away from the blade surface in all directions. The body
grids are clustered near the leading edge, trailing edge, and
Fig. 19 Convergence behavior of loose CFD/CSD coupling (baseline case).
Fig. 20 Comparison of contour plot for section normal forces Ma2Cn between CSD and CFD/CSD predictions (baseline case).
Y.H. YOU et al.
blade tip regions. They are clustered along the normal direc-
tion near the wall. The background grids consist of an inner
region that extends 4 chord lengths above, 3 chord lengths
below from the blade, and 1.5 chord lengths away from the
blade tip. The inner region has a uniform spacing in all direc-
tions. The far field boundary is located 5 times larger than the
blade radius from the rotor hub. The number of grids used is
3.7 million for the blade grids and 12.5 million for the back-
ground grids, respectively, resulting in 16.2 million grids over-
all for the rotor.
For the coupled CFD/CSD analysis, the authors’ previous
works28,29 are used and modified to incorporate ATR applica-
tions implemented along the blade span and azimuth domain
of the rotor disk. Considering the high-speed forward flight
condition (where the blade-vortex interaction is of less inter-
est), an isolated rotor system with a 0.15c off-body grid spac-
ing is adopted for the aeromechanics computation. In
addition, the first-order Roe scheme along with a 0.2° time step
size is employed for the time-accurate solution of the rotor.
Fig. 19 presents the iteration history of the trim control angles
(Fig. 19(a)) and the section airloads Ma2Cn (Fig. 19(b)) with
coupling cycles. It is indicated that all the predicted values
(i.e., trim parameters, airloads, and blade motions) become
converged after about six cycles of coupling iterations are
marched. Fig. 20 illustrates the section normal forces Ma2Cn
in a contour form predicted using the CSD and CFD/CSD
Optimal deployment schedule of an active twist rotor
Fig. 21 Comparison of section normal forces Ma2Cn at 87%
radial station between CSD and CFD/CSD predictions (baseline
case).
Fig. 22 Comparison of CSD and CFD/CSD predictions on total
power required for Case SH at a 2/rev actuation with an amplitude
of 3 Nm.
approaches, respectively, for the baseline uncontrolled rotor.
Both predictions indicate similar patterns in the distribution
of section airloads over the rotor disk except stronger peaks
in the CFD/CSD predictions with slight shifts in phases. This
pattern is repeated in Fig. 21 where the section airloads Ma2Cn
at 87% radial stations are plotted with respect to the azimuthal
Fig. 23 Effect of twist actuation on section drag forces Ma2Cx for CFD/CSD coupled results.
1437
domain. While the peak-to-peak amplitudes of the CFD/CSD
predictions are greater than those of CSD, a phase shift
amounting about 20° is observed around the 90° azimuth
angle. This kind of phase shifts has been encountered in vali-
dation studies of the UH-60A airloads program particularly
when dealing with high-speed forward flights.30 It should be
mentioned that the CSD predictions capture the general trends
of the aerodynamic loadings of the rotor, even though the neg-
ative loadings apparent in the advancing side are under-
predicted significantly.
Fig. 22 presents the percentage changes in the power
required with the variation of phase angles estimated using
the CSD and CFD/CSD coupled analyses, respectively, for
the actuation Case SH. A 2/rev with an amplitude of 3 Nm
is employed for the twist control. The CSD results are identical
with those referred in Table 2 for the parameter sweep study.
To verify CSD optimum results and investigate solution
trends, CFD/CSD coupling is carried out using nearby param-
eter conditions (180° and 300°) at the best optimum condition
of Case SH having a phase angle of 240°. Despite substantial
deviations in the relative gains in the power required, both
waveforms obtained near the optimum conditions are found
to be similar between the CSD and CFD/CSD predictions. It
is observed that a more than 4.6% reduction is reached with
the CFD/CSD analysis as compared with only a 0.76% gain
by the CSD approach. These results confirm that the optimiza-
tion study performed using the CSD approach is reasonable to
produce the best actuation condition but less satisfactory in
the actuation gains (magnitudes). As presented in Fig. 21,
much weaker negative loadings predicted using the CSD code
are possible sources of smaller gains in the power required than
the CFD/CSD coupled results. Actually, the power required is
associated more with the rotor drag force since most of the
gains are due to the decrease in the profile power. Fig. 23 pre-
sents the effect of the twist actuation with Case SH on section
drag forces Ma2Cx predicted using either CSD or CFD/CSD
approach. It is observed that the section drag forces over the
rotor disk are modified significantly due to the twist control.
To indicate the differences more clearly, the delta drag forces
(DMa2Cx) between the baseline uncontrolled case and Case
SH are presented for CFD/CSD and CSD, respectively, in
Fig. 24. It is observed that both approaches indicate strong
negative zones (i.e., reductions) in delta drag forces particu-
larly around the tip region in the fourth quadrant of the rotor
1438
Fig. 24 Effect of twist actuation (Case SH) on delta drag forces DMa2Cx.
Fig. 25 Effect of twist actuation on torsion moment at 14%
radial station of HART ATR rotor.
disk. The peak values are larger with the CFD/CSD predic-
tions than the CSD results. More pronounced negative zones
in delta drag forces of the CFD/CSD predictions contribute
to the larger power reduction than that of CSD as observed
in Fig. 22. It is remarked that the dominant region of increases
in delta drag forces in the third quadrant is positioned more
inboard than the negative zone in the fourth quadrant and
Fig. 26 Effect of twist actuation on iso-surfaces of Q-criterion for HART ATR rotor.
Y.H. YOU et al.
thus affects less for the power required due to the decreased
arm length.
The twist actuation inevitably alters the aerodynamic and
structural loads (e.g., pitch link loads) of the rotor through
varying the twist amplitudes. The influence of the active twist
input on structural torsion moments near the blade root (at
14% radial station) is examined for Case SH with respect to
the baseline uncontrolled case in Fig. 25. A pitch bearing stiff-
ness of 1000 Nm/rad, which is equivalent to a pitch link stiff-
ness of approximately 0.252 million N/m, is used to match the
first torsion frequency of the blade and to represent the control
system stiffness of the HART II rotor. It is noted that the pitch
link loads cannot be obtained since the detailed information on
the control system is not available for the HART II rotor. The
torsion moment at the root is evaluated instead. It is observed
that the peak-to-peak magnitudes of the predicted torsion
moments become reduced notably with the application of the
twist actuation, mainly due to the reduction in the second
quadrant of the rotor disk. Fig. 26 illustrates the influence of
the twist actuation on the wake structure around the rotor,
depicted using the Q-criterion colored by the vorticity magni-
tude. As is expected, the actuation input is seen to affect the
flow pattern substantially. These varied geometry and strength
in the wake with the twist actuation will influence the induced
inflow characteristic of the rotor, leading to changes in the
vibration and power required as observed in the previous
sections.
Optimal deployment schedule of an active twist rotor
4. Conclusions
In this work, the best ATR scenarios of a rotor in high-speed
conditions are sought using an optimization framework con-
structed based on a modern evolutionary algorithm PSGA
combined with CSD code CAMRAD II. The HART II rotor
with surface-mounted MFC actuators is used as a baseline
rotor. Three different ATR schedules including two- and
four-phased non-harmonic waveforms are introduced to max-
imize the actuation performance. A CFD/CSD coupling is
conducted to supplement the observations made behind the
optimum results. Key conclusions are drawn from the study.
(1) The parameter sweep study demonstrates a reasonable
validation on optimum results for minimum power
required and vibration reduction. More improved gains
up to 16% are obtained from the optimization due to
the use of finer resolutions than the parameter sweep.
(2) The two-phase non-harmonic actuation Case NHa exhi-
bits the best reduction in the power required when only
the performance optimum is engaged. An about 1.5%
reduction in the total power required is reached with
respect to the baseline uncontrolled rotor. More pro-
nounced elastic pitch-down in the advancing side and
pitch-up in the retreating side are observed with Case
NHa than those with the other cases. The elastic pitch
motions induced due to the twist input appear to be
responsible for the improved gains without affecting
much on the total pitch angles.
(3) The larger reduction in the power required for Case
NHa is explained comparing the section normal forces
with the control inputs. The negative loading zones pre-
sent around the azimuth angle of 90° near the blade tip
become shifted toward the second quadrant of the rotor
with decreased strengths. The increases in AOA in the
inboard region at the azimuth angle of 90° contribute
to alleviate the negative loadings and to reduce the
power required after all.
(4) The best vibration reduction gains are achieved with the
four-phased non-uniform actuation case NHb when the
optimization is engaged only with the vibration reduc-
tion. An about 61% decrease in the hub vibration is
obtained with the actuation as compared with the base-
line case.
(5) The CFD/CSD coupling results in similar trends in
power reduction with much larger gains in comparison
with CSD predictions. The percentage reductions are
4.6% and 0.76% for the CFD/CSD and CSD analyses,
respectively. The distributions of delta drag forces
obtained between the predictions with and without the
twist control are plotted to identify the source of reduc-
tion gains. The pronounced zone with negative delta
drag forces near the blade tip in the fourth quadrant is
shown to play a dominant role in improved
performance.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by Basic Science Research Pro-
gram through the National Research Foundation of Korea
(NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (No.
1439
2017R1D1A1A09000590). This paper resulted from the Kon-
kuk University research support program. The authors thank
the HART II test team for the data and Manoj K. Dhadwal
for his help in using the PSGA code.
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