Single-crystal piezoceramic actuation for dynamic stall suppression

PZN-8%PT〈111〉〈111〉 —a new single-crystal piezoceramic is explored for its potential to torsionally actuate the existing structure utilizing the induced shear mechanism of piezoceramics. A model of the elastic rotor blade and piezoceramic actuator is developed using the Hamilton’s principle and the resulting equations are solved using the finite element method. Numerical results show that the single crystal material is able to generate sufficient amount of torsion to enable suppression of high blade section angle of attack existing in stalled regions of a helicopter rotor at high speed forward flight. The suppression of dynamic stall leads to considerable improvement in helicopter performance. Thus, PZN-8%PT〈111〉〈111〉 could be proposed for investigation in applications demanding high actuation authority and for alleviating the dynamic stall related problems which limit helicopter performance in high speed flight.