TISHCHENKO’S METHOD - 4

Weight Estimation of Other Components

Swashplate
Main Gear Box, Tail Gear Box,
Intermediate Gear Box
Transmission Shaft
Fuselage
Outline of Tishchenko’s Method

1
Swashplate

2
Pitch Link

Non-rotating Swashplate Rotating Swashplate

3
 Swashplate Weight
THE SWASH-PLATES REACT THE FORCES IMPOSED BY THE
ROTATING PITCH LINKS AND NON-ROTATING ACTUATORS.

THESE FORCES ARE PROPORTIONAL TO THE MOMENTS OF THE

FORCES TRANSFERRED FROM THE ROTOR BLADES.

IN TURN, THE FORCES ARISING FROM THE ROTOR ARE

PROPORTIONAL TO PRODUCT OF THE NUMBER OF BLADES,
BLADE AREA AND BLADE CHORD:

nBL  b  R
2
BL
THE WEIGHT OF THE SWASHPLATE IS EXPRESSED AS

Wsp  ksp nBL  bBL

2
R
ksp  Weight Coefficient for Swashplate
4
 VALUES OF SWASHPLATE WEIGHT
COEFFICIENT
ksp

5
 WEIGHT OF MAIN GEAR BOX - 1

IT IS ASSUMED THAT THE WEIGHT OF THE MAIN GEAR

BOX IS PROPORTIONAL TO THE TORQUE
TRANSFERRED BY THE GEAR BOX
THE WEIGHT ALSO DEPENDS ON THE ARRANGEMENT
OF THE GEARS IN THE GEAR BOX
AS A FIRST APPROXIMATION

WMGB  kMGB  MT .MR ,

6
MAIN GEAR BOX WEIGHT COEFFICIENT -
FIRST APPROXIMATION
kMGB

7
 WEIGHT OF MAIN GEAR BOX - 2

THE VALUE OF kMGB VARIES FROM 0.1 FOR SMALL

HELICOPTERS TO ABOUT 0.04 FOR LARGE
HELICOPTERS.
This is because the wall thickness of the gear boxes
does not reduce linearly with size
AN IMPROVED APPROXIMATION IS

WMGB  k *
MGB M 0.8
T .MR

8
Main Gear Box Weight Coefficient: Improved Estimate
*
kMGB

9
TAIL GEAR BOX WEIGHT ESTIMATE

10
Tail Gear Box Weight Coefficient: Improved Estimate
WTGB  kTGB
*
 M 0.8T .TR
*
k TGB

11
INTERMEDIATE GEAR BOX
WEIGHT ESTIMATE

12
Intermediate Gear Box Weight Coefficient
WIGB  kIGB
*
 M 0.8T .TR .SH
*
k IGB

13
 Weight Estimate of Transmission Shaft

- The transmission shaft transmits the power to the tail

rotor gear box from the main gear box
- It is assumed that its weight depends upon the
following:
. Length of the shaft
. Maximum Torsion Moment capability of the Shaft

Wtsh.  k *
tsh  Lsh .(Mult )
2/3

14
Weight Coefficient for Transmission Shaft

*
ktsh

Mult daN-m

15
 

Weight Estimate of the Auxiliary Power Unit

- FOR TURBOSHAFT ENGINES ELECTRIC OR AIR START IS

USED
- THE WEIGHT OF THE ELECTRIC START SYSTEM IS NOT
USUSALLY INDICATED AS SEPARATE MASS SUBGROUP
- AN AUXILIARY POWER UNIT (APU) USED FOR AIR START
AND IS ALLOCATED IN SEPARATE MASS SUBGROUP
- THE FORMULA FOR THE WEIGHT OF THE APU IS BASED
ON STATISTICAL DATA

16
 
Weight Formula for the Auxiliary Power Unit

WAPU  k1APU  P 0.75

EN  k 2 APU
WHERE:
k1APU  0.165  kg / kW  ;
k 2 APU  10  kg .
HERE:
PEN - IS THE TAKE-OFF POWER
OF THE STARTED ENGINE
17
 Weight Estimate of the Fuel System
kF .SYS

WF .SYS  kF .SYSWMAX .FUEL

18
 Fuselage Weight Estimation
THE WEIGHT OF THE FUSELAGE IS ASSUMED TO DEPEND
UPON THE TAKE-OFF WEIGHT AND THE WEIGHT OF THE
PAYLOAD TO BE CARRIED:

WF  k1F wTO  k 2F WPL

- THE FIRST COEFFICIENT OF THE FORMULA TAKES INTO

ACCOUNT INFLUENCE OF TAKE-OFF MASS;
- THE SECOND ACCOUNTS FOR THE INFLUENCE OF
PAYLOAD

The Weight Coefficient k1Fisshown in the next Figure

The Weight Coefficient is assumed to be equal to 0.065
k 2F

19
 Values of the Coefficient k1F

k1F

20
 PRELIMINARY SIZING BY TISHCHENKO’S METHOD - 1

-FORMULAE HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED FOR OTHER

COMPONENTS.

-THESE FORMULAE ARE USED TO ESTIMATE THE

WEIGHTS OF ALL THE COMPONENTS TO OBTAIN THE
EMPTY WEIGHT OF THE HELICOPTER.

21
 PRELIMINARY SIZING BY TISHCHENKO’S METHOD - 2

REQUIRED TO DESIGN A HELICOPTER FOR GIVEN VALUES OF:

PAYLOAD, RANGE, CRUISE SPEED, CRUISE ALTITUDE

Step 1: Initialize data for

- Complete Helicopter (f/A, L/D, Propulsive Efficiency, …..)
- Main Rotor ( Figure of Merit, CT/sigma, Tip speed,….)
- Tail Rotor
- Engine (Take-off power, Maximum continuous power, s f c , lapse rate for
power, ….)

The calculations are carried out for a range of pre-selected values of

- Number of blades in the Main Rotor zbl
- Aspect Ratio of the blades 

(NOTE: This is equivalent to selecting the Number of Blades and the Rotor
solidity as parameters:
  R/b
zbl .R.b zbl
 
R 2
 22
 PRELIMINARY SIZING BY TISHCHENKO’S METHOD - 2

FOR EACH SET OF zbl AND 

1. Disc Loading: p  0.5 (Cт  )0 (Vtip )2  (1  tHB )

W PL  WFURN  WCREW
2. First Estimate of Take-off Weight: WTO 
L  TRESVCR
kWE   0.005
E

The calculations are carried out for a range of pre-selected values of

- Number of blades in the Main Rotor
- Aspect Ratio of the blades

(NOTE: This is equivalent to selecting the Number of Blades and the Rotor
solidity as parameters:
  R/b
zbl .R.b zbl
 
R 2
 23
 PRELIMINARY SIZING BY TISHCHENKO’S METHOD - 3

4  WTO
3. Main rotor Diameter: DMR 
 p

WTO
 MR 
4. Solidity of Main Rotor:  cT   0 MR   0    RMR
2
 (Vtip )2MR

 . MR  RMR
5. Blade Chord at 0.7 R: b07 MR 
zMRBL

 
3
WTO  t MR
6.Total Engine Power (Hover): PENG  zENG 
33.25  FMMR  MR  HOGE  0 DMR

PENG  zENG    RMR   MR

7. Main Rotor Shaft Torque: MMRT  716.2
30  (Vtip )MR

24
 PRELIMINARY SIZING BY TISHCHENKO’S METHOD - 4

WTO  VCR
8. Power for Cruise: PCR 
270  K  PR  CR

9. Calculate the fuel required for hover and cruise FUEL WEIGHT

10. Calculate Tail Rotor diameter and blade chord

11. Calculate weights of all Components EMPTY WEIGHT
12. New Estimate for Take-off Weight

WTO  WEMPTY  WPL  WCREW  WFURN  WFUEL

Return to Step 3 and repeat all calculations

until results converge
Repeat these steps to cover all choices of
number of blades and blade aspect ratio
(solidity) 25
RESULTS OF A PARAMETRIC STUDY

26
 TAKE-OFF WEIGHT vs DISC LOADING

Gross TO Weight vs DL
2250

2200
AR=18 AR=15
TAKE-OFF WEIGHT, lb

Nb=4
2150

2100 Nb=6
Nb=3
2050
AR=21 Nb=5
2000
AR=24
1950
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
DISK LOADING, lb/sq ft

27
 Main Rotor Diameter
31

29

27 AR=18
Blade Diameter, ft

25
Nb = 4
23

21

19

17

15
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Disc Loading, lb/sq ft

28
 Main Rotor Blade Chord
0.80 Nb = 3
Nb= 4
0.75
Nb= 5
Nb = 6
0.70
MR Blade Chord, ft

R/b=24
R/b=21
0.65
R/b=18
R/b=15
0.60
0.55
0.50
0.45
0.40
2 4 6 Loading, lb/sq
Disk 8 ft 10 12

29
 Cruise Power vs DL
340

320
Cruise Power,hp

Nb = 3

Nb= 4
300
Nb= 5

Nb = 6
280
R/b=24

260 R/b=21

R/b=18

240 R/b=15

2 4 6 8 10 12
Disc Loading, lb/sq ft

30
 Weight Efficiency (Kwe)
0.54
Nb = 3
Nb= 4
Nb= 5
0.53
Weight Efficiency

Nb = 6
R/b=24
R/b=21
0.52 R/b=18
R/b=15

0.51

0.50
2 4 6 8 10 12
Disc Loading lb/sq ft

31
 Acquisition Cost vs Disk Loading
0.85
Acquisition Price, Millions of $

Nb=4, AR=18
0.80

0.75

0.70

0.65
2 4 6 8 10 12
Disk Loading, lb/sq ft

32