Preliminary Design and Characteristics of a Tiltrotor Aircraft Nacelle utilizing a Tilt-rotor-only Mechanism

Abstract:
Tiltrotor aircraft attracts sustained interest due to their capacity to combine the advantages of both rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft. Recently, alternative nacelle tilting concepts have emerged, in which only the forward section of the nacelle rotates during mode conversion, differing from conventional full-nacelle tilt mechanisms. So-called "tilt-rotor-only" mechanism, it is known to suggest lots of advantages. This paper presents a baseline main wing-nacelle configuration of the XV-15 tiltrotor aircraft as a reference and comparison model. Based on this baseline, a structurally equivalent configuration employing a tilt-rotor-only mechanism is designed. Followingly, some characteristic analyses are performed to evaluate the structural robustness and operational safety. Structural, dynamic, modal, and aeroelastic characteristics are examined to identify the distinctive features induced by the tilt-rotor-only mechanism compared to the conventional tiltrotor wing-nacelle configuration.

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