Theoretical and Experimental Investigations of Gyroplane Jump Takeoff Dynamics

A nonlinear and time-varying gyroplane jump takeoff dynamics model considering the unsteady ground effect and the rapid blade-pitch increase (RBPI) is developed and validated against the experiment data. The precisions of the proposed model, an experienced Hollmann model and three other simplified models are compared by displaying the height and rpm time histories of those models and the experimental data. The mean square errors(MSE) of the height histories and maximum height errors (MHE) between those models are calculated and given out. The statistics provide a kind of evaluation method of importance of the unsteady ground effect, RBPI, and the induced velocity on jump takeoff performance in vertical phase. The impact of the unsteady ground effect and RBPI on the thrust and induced velocity of the experimental rotor of a small scale platform is analyzed. The study indicates that the proposed model agrees better with the experimental data than other models. It is useful for predicting the gyroplane jump takeoff performance for design.