Development of a Multi-Purpose Helicopter flight simulator

This thesis aims to describe the development of a flight simulation model for a multi-purpose helicopter. The model is developed in the Matlab/Simulink environment and also has the target to be integrated into a real-time flight simulator such as the ReDSim of the ZAV Centre for Aviation at ZHAW, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, in Winterthur, Switzerland, a research and development flight simulator employed for both educational and industrial applications. The study mainly focuses on developing a model for the helicopter tail rotor with its shrouded configuration. Nevertheless, a model for the aerodynamic surfaces and the main rotor wake has also been developed. The first part of the work has been dedicated to the modeling of the ducted tail rotor configuration: in particular, in addition to the expected behavior of a typical tail rotor with an open configuration, the challenge was to describe the behavior of the duct and the reciprocal interaction between the duct and the fan. A model for the airframe, the main rotor head, the horizontal stabilizer, and the vertical fin has also been developed to compute the loads generated by these components during the helicopter mission. A wake model was also formulated to describe the main rotor interference on the aerodynamic surfaces and on the tail rotor. In the end, the models developed have been integrated, defining a comprehensive helicopter model. The thesis presented is part of a more considerable work whose objective is to develop a helicopter parameter estimation model for developing a flight control system (FCS).