ABC Rotor blades: design, manufacturing and testing

ABC is the acronym for ‘’Active Blade Concept’’ and represents a 38% Mach scaled model rotor of the Advanced Technology Rotor (ATR) of Eurocopter Germany (ECD, [4]). In contrast to the ATR the model rotor is fully articulated. Specifically, it is equipped with a flap at the trailing edge of each blade, which is driven by a piezoelectric actuator. The ABC project is a cooperation between the French ONERA and the German DLR within the research concept ‘’The Active Rotor’’.