Aerodynamic Loads Induced by a Rotor on a Body of Revolution

A wind-tunnel investigation was conducted in which aerodynamic loads were measured on a small-scale helicopter rotor and a body of revolution located close to it as an idealized model of a fuselage. The objective was to study the aerodynamic interactions as a function of forward speed, rotor thrust, and rotor/body position. Results show that body loads, normalized by rotor thrust, are functions of the ratio between free-stream velocity and the hover-induced velocity predicted by momentum theory.