Coning

Coning is a phenomenon which affects helicopter rotor discs. The tips of the helicopter rotor blades move faster through the air than the parts of the blades near the hub, so they generate more lift, which pushes the tips of the blades upwards. This is balanced by centrifugal force, resulting in a slight cone shape to the rotor disc. If rotor RPM drops too low, the rotor blades fold up with no chance of recovery.^[1]^: 2–16^[2]^[3]^: 1–77

Helicopter rotors are typically designed with washout (twist) so that lift is relatively uniform along the blades. However, because lift increases quadratically with airspeed, coning still occurs at higher RPMs.

The ratio of aerodynamic forces to inertial forces is called the Lock number.

References[]

^ "2. Aerodynamics of Flight". Helicopter Flying Handbook (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
^ Croucher, Phil (2007). Professional Helicopter Pilot Studies. [S. l. p. 2-17. ISBN 9780978026905.
^ "1". Fundamentals of Flight FM 3-04.203 (PDF). US Department of the Army. May 2007. pp. 13, 42–43.

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[FAA-1] "2. Aerodynamics of Flight". Helicopter Flying Handbook (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2022.

[Croucher-2] Croucher, Phil (2007). Professional Helicopter Pilot Studies. [S. l. p. 2-17. ISBN 9780978026905.

[FoF-3] "1". Fundamentals of Flight FM 3-04.203 (PDF). US Department of the Army. May 2007. pp. 13, 42–43.

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Coning

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