The HART Programme - A Quadrilateral Cooperative Research Effort

Abstract

In a major cooperative programme researchers from the German DLR, the French ONERA, the US Army AFDD and NASA Langley, and the German-Dutch DNW conducted comprehensive wind tunnel tests using a 40% scaled model of the BO 105 main rotor. The objectives of the Higher harmonic control Aeronautics Rotor Test (HART) Programme were to improve the basic understanding of the phenomena of the Higher Harmonic Control (HHC) technique for the reduction of helicopter vibration and Blade Vortex Interaction (BVI) noise. Under the auspices of different bilateral cooperation agreements including the US/German and the US/French Memoranda of Understanding on Helicopter Aeromechanics the research programme was initiated in 1990. The wind tunnel test was conducted in June 1994 in the open-jet anechoic test section of the DNW in the Netherlands using hard-and software of all partners involved. The paper presents an overview of the HART Programme, including the the prediction methods, the test facilities and measurement techniques, the test matrix, and some representative prediction and test results. It is highlighted in the paper that this successful programme was only possible through intensive cooperative efforts of.