Innovative composite gyroplane rotor blades : fatigue tests

The paper presents test bench method for verifying the fatigue life of the rotor blades, working in operating conditions in a position steady flight (autorotation), on the aviation construction called the gyroplane. One of the critical elements of this design is the main rotor, which in its modern versions takes the form of advanced composite structures subjected to loads in flight complex variable, the nature of which differs from the well-known operating conditions of helicopter rotors. The article includes a description of the test object, which are composite rotor blades designed specifically to work in autorotation, the specificity of loads of autorotation rotor, and method of implementation of the gyroplane rotor work cycles in the test bench. The main aim of this research is to evaluate the sustainability of the composite blades under the gyroplane operating loads with the goal to allow the rotor to operate in the air. The tests were carried out for 100 hours of gyroplane flight at loads do not exceed the maximum operating loads, and for several hours under a load higher than operating. During test for the evaluation of composite structure, the infrared camera with dedicated software IRNDT was used. The reached showed structural integrity in critical mounting section of the blade.