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Hover Performance of a Small-Scale Helicopter Rotor for Flying on Mars

Article in Journal of Aircraft · May 2016

DOI: 10.2514/1.C033621

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 JOURNAL OF AIRCRAFT

Hover Performance of a Small-Scale

Helicopter Rotor for Flying on Mars

Robin Shrestha∗
University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
Moble Benedict†
Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843
and
Vikram Hrishikeshavan‡ and Inderjit Chopra§
University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
DOI: 10.2514/1.C033621
The present study is in response to increased interest towards assessing the feasibility of a small-scale autonomous
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND on June 19, 2016 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/1.C033621

helicopter (gross weight less than 1 kg) for Martian exploration. An autonomous rotorcraft may be ideally suited for
such an application because of its unique advantages, which include the ability to take off/land vertically on harsh
terrain, and greater speed, range, and field of view, when compared to a traditional surface rover. The atmospheric
conditions on Mars present a unique set of design challenges. Even though the Martian gravity is only about 38% of
Earth’s gravity, the Martian average atmospheric density is about 70 times lower than Earth’s atmospheric density.
Therefore, the rotors would be operating at extremely low Reynolds numbers, even lower than 5000 for a small-scale
helicopter. However, the Mach number will be significantly higher (M > 0.4) because of the higher tip speed required
(due to lower density) and because of the fact that the speed of sound on Mars is only about 72% of the speed of sound
on Earth. This low-Reynolds-number, high-Mach-number flow condition on the blade imposes severe constraints on
the rotor design. The solution proposed in the present study involves scaling up the rotor size to produce the required
thrust at acceptable Mach and Reynolds numbers. The hover performance of a full-scale rotor for a 200 g Martian
coaxial helicopter was experimentally evaluated in an evacuation chamber, where the exact Martian air density was
simulated. The maximum figure of merit obtained for the baseline rotor was less than 0.4 at an operating Reynolds
number of 3300 and Mach number of 0.34. Increasing the Reynolds number at a constant Mach number by changing
the air density increased the figure of merit of the same rotor to over 0.6 at a Reynolds number of 35,000. As the
Reynolds numbers was decreased to ultralow values (Re < 5000), the blade collective pitch angle for maximum figure
of merit increased even up to 30 deg. A key conclusion from this study is the feasibility of small-scale hovering flight on
Mars with a realistic endurance (12–13 min).

Nomenclature I. Introduction
A = rotor disk area
Cd
Cl
=
=
sectional drag coefficient
sectional lift coefficient
T HERE is great interest in assessing the feasibility of a small-
scale helicopter for the exploration of Mars. This present study
aligns well with NASA’s goal of operating a microrotorcraft from the
CP = P∕
ρAΩ3 R3 , coefficient of power Mars Rover during the 2020 mission. A small-scale helicopter for
CT = T∕
ρAΩ2 R2 , coefficient of thrust Mars is envisioned to act as an aerial scout for a traditional surface
c = blade chord rover. An aerial observational platform may be the perfect natural
DL = T∕A, disk loading expansion for the surface rover. The advantages of an aerial platform
FM = figure of merit include greater speed, range, and field of view over a traditional
P = mechanical power required surface rover. The Martian surface presents unique challenges
PL = T∕P, power loading because it is highly varied and rugged, which limits the mobility of
R = radius of the rotor traditional surface rovers to reach many high-priority sites of interest.
T = thrust For instance, it may not be possible for a wheeled surface vehicle to
κ = induced power factor explore the headwaters of small Martian gullies and layered cliff
ρ = air density faces along the walls of Valles Marineris. However, the exploration of
σ = solidity (total blade area/rotor disk area) these features is critical to understanding the natural processes that
Ω = rotational speed formed them and the role of water on Mars’ past and present [1]. An
aerial vehicle would greatly expand our exploratory capability. A
Received 4 July 2015; revision received 1 November 2015; accepted for planetary aerial vehicle would remove the challenges associated with
publication 16 January 2016; published online 25 May 2016. Copyright © maneuvering across a hazardous boulder-strewn terrain or hitting an
2016 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All enormously large obstacle that is not possible to circumnavigate. An
rights reserved. Copies of this paper may be made for personal and internal
use, on condition that the copier pay the per-copy fee to the Copyright
aerial vehicle for Mars would ideally need to have the ability to take
Clearance Center (CCC). All requests for copying and permission to reprint off from the landing site, travel to and hover above the areas of high
should be submitted to CCC at www.copyright.com; employ the ISSN 0021- scientific interest, and collect scientific data. Different aerial
8669 (print) or 1533-3868 (online) to initiate your request. platforms have been proposed in the past for such a mission [2].
*Research Assistant, Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center; rshresth@terpmail. Since 1960, the exploration of Mars has progressed through three
umd.edu. methodologies: flyby, orbiter, and lander/rover. However, during the
†
Assistant Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering; benedict@ last two decades, there have been a handful of studies that focused on
tamu.edu.
‡ investigating the feasibility of novel aerial concepts, which can improve
Assistant Research Scientist, Department of Aerospace Engineering,
Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center; vikramh@umd.edu. exploration of the Martian surface by high-resolution aerial imagery,
§
Alfred Gessow Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Alfred capability to drop probes and sensors or acquire small samples, acting as
Gessow Rotorcraft Center; chopra@umd.edu. advance scout for larger surface rovers, and performing high-risk/
Article in Advance / 1
 2 Article in Advance
expendable tasks. These studies focused on three different concepts:
lighter-than-air vehicles, fixed-wing airplanes, and rotorcraft. The
choice of vehicle type will depend on the mission and budget.
For instance, there have been many experimental and analytical
studies to design/build lighter-than-air concepts (balloons/airships)
for Martian atmosphere [3–5]. The biggest challenge here is to
balance the competing requirements of a balloon light enough to float
in the thin Martian atmosphere, while having enough strength and
robustness to survive transient loads during the aerial deployment
and inflation process. One of first major initiatives was the Russian/
French Mars Aerostat project (1987–1995), where the goal was to
inject a balloon system (Aerostat) into the Mars atmosphere and to fly
10 days over the Mars surface for in situ scientific exploration [3].
The proposed aerostat would float at 4 km altitude with a 5500 m3
cylindrical overpressure envelope. However, this project was
canceled in 1995 before any major breakthrough could be
accomplished. Another significant effort was the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory’s Mars Balloon Validation Program (MABVAP), which
was initiated in August 1997 to develop and validate key
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND on June 19, 2016 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/1.C033621
technologies needed for aerobot missions on Mars [4]. Three major
components to MABVAP were validation of aerial deployment and
inflation, superpressure balloon design, and development of new
simulation tools. As part of this program, a number of superpressure
balloons were fabricated and tested from 1997 to 2002. This was
followed by the joint Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Wallops Flight
Facility, and Near Space Corporation research effort called “SUPER-
M”. In 2006, the SUPER-M team conducted successful aerial
deployment and inflation tests on full-scale prototype balloons for
Mars [5]. These tests occurred in the Earth’s stratosphere at an
altitude of 31 km, where the low atmospheric density is comparable
to that found near the surface of Mars, and the main technical focus
was on the aerial deployment and inflation process.
In the late 1970s, with funding and direction from the JPL,
Developmental Sciences, Inc. (DSI) conducted what was probably
the most comprehensive early investigation of the feasibility of a
fixed-wing aircraft for Mars [6]. The final airplane designed (named
“Astroplane”) had a wingspan of 21 m, wing area of 20 m2 , and a
nominal mass of 300 kg. A complex folding scheme, which included
six wing folds, three fuselage folds, and a folding propeller, was
necessary to fit the Astroplane into a 3.8 m Viking-like aeroshell.
Since the DSI study, there have been several NASA, industry, and
university studies of Mars airplane missions. A well-known effort is
the ARES (Aerial Regional-Scale Environmental Survey of Mars)
project by NASA Langley Research Center, which targeted to use a
specially designed fixed-wing aircraft to explore the Martian
Southern Highlands [7]. The final airplane design had a wingspan
of 6.25 m and estimated gross weight of 150 kg with a range of
500 km and endurance of 1 h. The large size of the aircraft
(wingarea  7 m2 ) allows it to operate in a manageable aerodynamic
regime (Mach number between 0.62 and 0.71 and Reynolds numbers
between 100,000 and 200,000). The propulsion system of this
aircraft consisted of a bipropellant, pulsed control rocket propulsion
system with Monomethylhydrazine fuel and Mixed Oxides of
Nitrogen-3 oxidizer. A half-scale model of this vehicle was built in
2002, and a successful autonomous high-altitude deployment and
pullout sequence was conducted at a height of 103,500 ft. Many other
fixed-wing airplane missions and conceptual designs were proposed
by various institutes [6–9], where the vehicle size ranges from 2 to
12 m in wingspan, gross weight from 20 to 200 kg, endurance from
15 min to 3 h, range from 130 to 1800 km, and cruise speeds ranging
from 110 to 160 m∕s.
Even though lighter-than-air concepts are by far the most efficient
in terms of power consumption, they are not very practical because of
the large balloon size requirement for any significant payload and
their susceptibility to winds. They also lack the control authority to
explore a targeted area of scientific interest. Fixed-wing aircraft are
relatively efficient; however, their necessity to fly at extremely high
speeds (greater than 100 m/s) imposes a lot of constraints on their
mission capabilities and makes them unrecoverable after the first
flight. On the other hand, rotorcraft, even though the most power-
hungry among the three systems, is extremely versatile with its hover/
/ SHRESTHA ET AL.
low-speed flight capability and is ideally suited for many missions. A
rotorcraft has the unique advantages of the ability to take off and land
from rough terrain as well as hover and low-speed flight to survey
hostile terrain (more closely than an orbiter). It can also precisely
deliver a sensor from the rover to any location as well as return
samples from remote sites back to the main rover. There are many
potential benefits of using a rotorcraft as the aerial platform for
planetary exploration on Mars.
However, conditions on Mars present a very unique set of design
challenges. Martian gravity is approximately only one-third of
Earth’s gravity, but the Martian atmospheric density is 70 times less
than that of Earth. The speed of sound on Mars is also only 72% of
that as on Earth. The ultralow air density on Mars requires the rotor to
operate at very high rotational speeds to produce the required thrust.
As a result, the blades would experience a unique low-Reynolds-
number (Re)/high-Mach-number flow condition, which normally
does not occur on any other conventional flight vehicle. No
experimental data exist for low-Reynolds-number, high-Mach-
number flow; hence, aerodynamic predictions may be inaccurate.
Therefore, it is critical to generate rotor performance databases for
these flow regimes.
The present study is focused on a small-scale helicopter
(mass ∼ 200 g), which can be essentially used for performing
scouting missions from the rover. There have been a few
experimental studies that systematically investigated the aerody-
namics of micro air vehicle (MAV) scale rotors (diameter within 6 in.)
at low Reynolds numbers (Re  30;000 to 60,000) [10–13].
However, these rotors were tested at Earth’s atmospheric density
(ρ  1.225 kg∕m3 ) at very low Mach numbers (M ∼ 0.03), and low
Reynolds numbers were a result of scaling down the rotors. Results
from the MAV rotor studies support the use of cambered (camber of 6
to 9%), circular-arc flat-plate airfoils, with sharpened leading edge
for rotors operating at tip Reynolds numbers of less than 60,000. The
experiments conducted by Bohorquez on a MAV-scale rotor
(Re ≈ 60;000) demonstrated that rotors with thin circular cambered-
plate (6–9%) blades with sharpened leading-edge have superior
performance [13,14]. Computational studies applying a Reynolds-
averaged Navier–Stokes solver conducted by Lakshminarayan and
Baeder on a hovering MAV-scale rotor showed that the reason for the
poor performance of a blade with blunt leading edge is because of the
large pressure drag at the front resulting from the laminar separation
bubble [15]. Further experiments by Benedict et al. tested and
systematically optimized different blade parameters including blade
airfoil profile, blade chord, blade twist, and planform taper [16]. This
study demonstrated that it is possible for a rotor operating at MAV-
scale Reynolds numbers (Re ∼ 30;000) to achieve a figure of merit of
0.67, which is a considerable improvement over other rotors
operating at that Reynolds number regime. However, the question
whether it is possible to achieve comparable performance at a much
lower Reynolds number range (Re < 5000) and order of magnitude
higher Mach number (M  0.3–0.45), at which the present 200 g
Martian helicopter would operate, still remains.
This paper focuses on the fundamental experiments, which were
conducted to support NASA JPL’s initiative to investigate the
feasibility of a microhelicopter (mass less than 1 kg) on Mars. This
present research aligns well with the objective of NASA to send a
microrotorcraft to Mars for the 2020 mission to serve as a scout for the
rover. The specific objective of the present research is to investigate if
such a microrotorcraft would be capable of hover on Mars, and if so,
whether we can expect a realistic endurance to carry out a useful
mission. The proposed vehicle is a coaxial helicopter with a gross
weight of 200 g. In hover, each rotor needs to produce 0.38 N (0.76 N
total) of thrust on Mars. To achieve this thrust at a manageable
rotational speed (or low Mach number) and reasonably higher
Reynolds number, the rotors will have to be scaled up. For the present
design, each rotor was scaled up to 18 in. diameter, which may be 2–3
times the size of a terrestrial MAV of the same mass. Therefore, the
primary goal of the present research is to experimentally investigate
the hover performance of a baseline full-scale rotor (18 in. diameter)
under simulated Martian atmospheric density (ρ  0.0167 kg∕m3 )
in a custom-built evacuation chamber. Also, experiments were
 Article in Advance
conducted for the same rotor by keeping the rotational speed constant
(constant Mach number) and varying the air density to obtain
performance of the same rotor over a wide range of Reynolds
numbers (Re  3300 to 35,000). This is the Reynolds number
regime that is expected for a sub-1-kg helicopter in the thin Martian
atmosphere. The insights gained from this study will provide
fundamental insights into the performance of a small-scale helicopter
rotor in Martian atmosphere, which is not available at this point. It
will also provide archival data for validating future computational
studies. Also, based on the present experimental results, the
feasibility for such a rotorcraft with more than 10 min of endurance
for Mars exploration is examined.
II. Experimental Setup
The first step in the study was to develop a hover stand to measure
the aerodynamic performance of a rotor in the hovering state.
Figure 1a shows a top view of a test rotor on a hover test stand and a
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close-up view of the sensors used to measure thrust, power, and
revolutions per minute is shown in Fig. 1b. To accurately measure
thrust, the drive motor and the planetary gearbox, on which the rotor
is directly attached, is mounted on the rotor hover test stand. The
hover stand is composed of thrust and torque load cells. The load cell
had a limit of up to 1.1 kg (2.5 lb). The calibration of the load cell was
focused on the narrow range of what we expected to see at Martian
density (0 to 100 g). Thrust data were measured within 1 g of
accuracy. The electric motor to drive the rotor was a dc brushless
electric motor (Hacker B40) with a 4:1 planetary gearbox. The
rotational speed of the rotor was measured using the 1/revolution
signal generated by the installed Hall sensor. Both the thrust and
torque load cells were carefully calibrated on the setup to minimize
errors. The mechanical power was determined from the torque and
rotational speed measurements (power  rotational speed × torque
Fig. 1 Rotor hover test stand inside of an evacuation chamber.
Fig. 2 Baseline rectangular rotor planform and dimensions.
/ SHRESTHA ET AL. 3
x torque). The measurements were carried out 15 times for each
configuration and were averaged to minimize the measurement error.
To simulate the thin atmosphere on Mars, the entire hover stand is
installed inside a large evacuation chamber with diameter and height
of 3 ft (∼0.91 m). The evacuation chamber allows the Reynolds
number to be adjusted by changing the air pressure. Additional
sensors are installed inside the evacuation chamber to measure
temperature and pressure to calculate air density inside the chamber.
Martian air density is simulated within the experimental setup, which
is approximately ρ  0.0167 kg∕m3.
III. Rotor Model and Experimental Conditions
The baseline rotor (Fig. 2) is a two-bladed single-rotor
configuration with a diameter of 18 in. The baseline blade is
untwisted and has a rectangular planform with a chord of 2 in. The
airfoil used is a curved flat-plate airfoil with a camber of 6.35%,
thickness-to-chord (t∕c) ratio of 1%, and sharpened leading edge.
This baseline airfoil had previously been optimized for maximum
aerodynamic efficiency (figure of merit ∼0.65) at Reynolds numbers
around 50,000 and very low Mach numbers (M ∼ 0.03) [12].
However, this does not mean that it will be the optimum airfoil for a
200 g Martian helicopter rotor operating at tip Reynolds numbers that
are at least an order of magnitude lower (Re < 5000) and at
significantly higher Mach numbers (M  0.3 − 0.45). The rotational
speed of the rotor was varied from 3000 to 4000 rpm. At Martian air
density, this rotational speed range corresponds to a Reynolds
number range of 3100 to 4100 (using chord at 75% span and tip
speed) and Mach number range of 0.31 to 0.42 (using conservative
estimate of speed of sound on Mars, 230 m∕s). Note that, before
testing at Martain air density, the rotor was tested at ambient density
outside of the evacuation chamber, at ambient density inside of the
evacuation with the lid of the evacuation chamber open, and with the
lid closed. The purpose of these tests were to determine how much of
 4 Article in Advance
a circulation effect that the evacuation chamber has on the tested
rotors. It was observed that there was some circulation effect, but the
effect was negligible. At each rotational speed, the blade was tested
over a range of collective pitch angles varying from 18 to 40 deg. The
collective angles tested were higher than the typical operating
collectives of a full-scale helicopter because it was observed during
the study that, at these low Reynolds numbers, higher figures of merit
are achieved at much higher collective pitch angles.
IV. Experimetal Results and Discussion
Systematic experimental studies were conducted using the
experimental setup described in the previous section. Two sets of
studies were conducted:
1) The performance (thrust and power) of the baseline rotor (full-
scale rotor for the 200 g coaxial helicopter) was measured at the exact
Martian air density (0.0167kg∕m3 ).
2) The performance of the baseline rotor was measured over a wide
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND on June 19, 2016 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/1.C033621
range of Reynolds numbers by varying the air density in the evacuation
chamber at a constant rotational speed (constant Mach number).
The rotors were tested at varying collective pitch angles and over a
range of rotational speeds (3000 to 4000 rpm). Figure of merit is a
good efficiency metric to measure the rotor hover performance. This
is the ratio of the ideal power required to hover over the actual power
required (actual induced power  profile power):
Ideal Induced Power
FM  (1)
Actual Induced Power  Profile Power
The actual induced power may be written as (κ× ideal induced
power), where κ is the induced power factor. This is an empirical
constant that accounts for the induced aerodynamic losses and
nonideal effects. The actual induced power is higher than the ideal
power because of non-ideal effects such as nonuniform inflow,
viscous losses, induced tip losses, etc. Profile power is the power
required to overcome the rotor aerodynamic drag force to rotate the
rotor. From blade-element theory, figure of merit can also be written
in terms of blade sectional aerodynamic efficiency
Cl 3∕2 ∕Cd ,
where Cl is the coefficient of lift and Cd is the coefficient of drag, and
the induced power factor κ. The maximum figure of merit is attained
when the lift-to-drag ratio is maximized and induced losses are
minimized. Because a Martian microrotor operates at ultralow
Reynolds numbers (Re < 5000), the lift-to-drag ratio will be
significantly lower, even when compared to a typical MAV rotor
(operating Re > 30;000). Therefore, the goal of the present study
was to first evaluate the performance of a baseline rotor over a range
of extremely low Reynolds numbers.
Fig. 3 Baseline rectangular rotor planform’s variation of thrust vs revolutions per minute and power vs revolutions per minute at Martian density
ρ
0.0167 kg∕m3 .
/ SHRESTHA ET AL.
The figure of merit is calculated from the measured thrust and
mechanical power measured (torque × rotational speed) using the
following equation:
p



C3∕2
T ∕ 2
FM  (2)
CPmeasured
where CT and CP are thrust and power coefficients respectively. The
numerator of Eq. (2) represents the ideal power required for hover,
whereas the denominator represents the actual power required
to hover.
Even though figure of merit is a good measure of rotor
aerodynamic efficiency, the overall hover performance is determined
by power loading (thrust per unit power). In the following sections,
the effect of various rotor and testing parameters will be discussed in
terms of figure of merit and power loading.
V. Experimental Results
Hover tests were carried out in the evacuation chamber to
understand the performance of the baseline rotor at Martian air
density. Because improving the blade sectional aerodynamic
efficiency requires operating at the optimum angle of attack, a
comprehensive experimental parametric study was conducted to
investigate the effect of blade collective pitch angle on rotor
performance. In the present study, the baseline rotor was tested over a
range of collective pitch angles from 18 to 40 deg as well as a range of
rotational speeds. A very systematic approach was used to perform
these experiments. Each rotational speed was tested at the varying
collective pitch angles numerous times (excess of 15 trials). The data
samples were then progressively averaged to reduce random errors.
The statistical error calculated was less than 0.01 N in thrust and
0.5 W in power measurements.
A. Baseline Rotor Performance at Martian Air Density: Effect of
Blade Collective Pitch Angle
Figure 3 shows effect of increasing collective pitch angle on thrust
generated and power required. Focusing on Fig. 3a, it can be seen that
increasing collective pitch angle does increase the thrust generated.
However, in Fig. 3b, it is apparent that increasing collective pitch
angle also increases the mechanical power required. Note that the
horizontal line in Fig. 3a is at thrust T  0.38 N required for the
coaxial helicopter. All pitch angles above 30 deg were able to achieve
the required thrust within 4000 rpm. Figure 4 clearly shows this trend
in terms of nondimensionalized units of thrust coefficient CT and
power coefficient Cp .
 Article in Advance
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Fig. 4 Baseline rectangular rotor planform’s variation of thrust vs pitch and power vs collective pitch at Martian density ρ
0.0167 kg∕m3 .
Fig. 5 Baseline rectangular rotor planform’s variation of CT ∕CP vs
collective pitch at Martian density ρ
0.0167 kg∕m3 .
Presented in Fig. 5 is the variation of CT ∕Cp with pitch angle. As
expected, there is an optimum collective pitch angle for this rotor.
Figure 6 presents the same data in terms of variation of figure of merit
with pitch angle at a constant rotational speed of 4000 rpm. Note that
the baseline rotor geometry had not been optimized for this Reynolds
number and Mach number regime. As predicted, the figure of merit is
significantly lower than what this rotor is capable of achieving at
higher Reynolds numbers (this rotor design had achieved FM  0.65
at Re ∼ 50;000). A possible reason for this is the fact that, at these
ultralow Reynolds numbers (Re < 5000), the laminar boundary layer
Fig. 6 Baseline rectangular rotor planform’s variation of FM vs pitch and FM vs CT ∕σ at Martian density ρ
0.0167 kg∕m3 .
/ SHRESTHA ET AL. 5
would be even thicker and hence more susceptible to flow separation,
with the viscous losses being significantly higher. These could result
in lower lift coefficients, a larger contribution to profile power, and
significantly higher induced losses. Figure 6a shows that the
maximum figure of merit at the Martian density (Re ∼ 3300) is about
0.34 at approximately 30–32 deg collective pitch angle. The
variation of figure of merit with blade loading coefficient (CT ∕σ) is
presented in Fig. 6b. The rotor was tested at a constant rotational
speed of 4000 rpm (tip Reynolds number  4100), and CT ∕σ is
varied by changing blade collective pitch angle.
The overall hover performance for the rectangular baseline rotor is
presented in terms of power loading vs thrust on Fig. 7. In this graph,
each curve represents the rotor tested at a different pitch angle, where
the thrust is increased by increasing the rotational speed. The dashed
vertical line is the design required 0.38 N thrust for the Mars
helicopter. The graph clearly shows that this target thrust is attainable
by this rotor. Based on momentum theory, power loading is
proportional to figure of merit as long as disk loading (thrust/disk
area) is the same. Therefore, it is fair to compare performance of the
rectangular rotor at different pitch angles by comparing the power
loading (PL) value. Of the different pitch angles tested, the optimum
power loading at the target thrust is achieved at 30 deg collective pitch
angle, which is consistent with the FM vs pitch angle data (Fig. 6a).
VI. Endurance on Mars
Figure 8 shows the results of testing with the 30 deg collective pitch
angle (approximately the optimum pitch angle). The experimental
results can be used to calculate the endurance of the 200 g coaxial
 6 Article in Advance
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND on June 19, 2016 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/1.C033621
Fig. 7 Variation of power loading with thrust at Martian density
ρ
0.0167 kg∕m3 .
helicopter on Mars. In the previous section, it was shown that, for the
rectangular baseline rotor with θ0  30 deg, the desired 0.38 N of
thrust is achieved at approximately 3730 rpm. The mechanical power
loading is interpolated at T  0.38 N as PL  0.0429 N∕W. For
each rotor, the actual power required would be 8.86 W, which means a
total power of 17.5 W. Assuming a motor efficiency of 50% means
the electrical input power needs to be 35.43 W. There is a linear
relation between energy content and mass of the battery (grams),
which is given by Eq. (3):
Battery energy
W · h  0.1589 × battery mass (3)
Using this relation, and assuming battery mass to be 50 g (33% of
empty weight), the battery energy is 7.94 W·h. Based on the electrical
power obtained before (35.43 W), this would provide a total vehicle
hover endurance of 13.45 min on Mars, which is, in fact, an
acceptable endurance for such an aircraft. Note that these results are
based on the performance of an isolated rotor. The inherent
assumption in endurance calculation is that there is no aerodynamic
interference between the two rotors of the coaxial system. However,
future studies will need to include testing a coaxial rotor system in the
evacuation chamber.
VII. Effect of Reynolds Number Variation
At these low Reynolds numbers, the aerodynamic characteristics
of the rotor are considered to be strongly influenced by the operating
Fig. 8 Baseline rectangular rotor planform’s variation of thrust and power with revolutions per minute at Martian density ρ
0.0167 kg∕m3 .
/ SHRESTHA ET AL.
Reynolds number. A key motivation for performing these tests is to
gain a fundamental understanding of the performance of the present
rotor in the low-Reynolds-number regime at a Mach number that is
more than an order of magnitude higher than what is experienced on
terrestrial MAV-scale rotors. Such a comprehensive set of data may
also become useful when designing a scaled-up vehicle, such as a
1 kg Martian helicopter or to validate future computational
predictions at such conditions. Therefore, to understand the effect of
Reynolds number on rotor hover performance at relatively higher
Mach numbers, the thrust and power of the baseline rotor were
measured by keeping rotational speed constant (3200 rpm,
M  0.33) but varying the density of air inside of the evacuation
chamber. In these sets of experiments, blade loading coefficient
(CT ∕σ) again is varied by varying collective pitch angle. The rotor is
tested at a range of collective pitch angles from Re  3300
(corresponding to Martian air density, 0.0167 kg∕m3 ) up to Re 
35;500 (density  0.18 kg∕m3 ). Because thrust and power are
directly proportional to air density, the blade is able to achieve a
higher thrust by drawing more power at higher densities. The
aforementioned effects of flow separation, increased profile power,
and induced losses associated with lower Reynolds numbers are
reduced when Reynolds number is increased. Therefore, the overall
effect would be for the figure of merit to increase at all blade loading
coefficients with increasing Reynolds numbers. This is exactly what
we see in Fig. 10, which shows the results of the Reynolds number
variation tests. Each curve represents a distinct Reynolds number. At
each Reynolds number, the figure of merit follows an expected trend:
there is an optimum pitch angle for highest figure of merit. From these
data, the maximum figure of merit achieved for each Reynolds
number is obtained and is plotted versus Reynolds number in
Fig. 11a. This conclusively shows that figure of merit does increase
with increasing Reynolds numbers. However, note that the sensitivity
of figure of merit to Reynolds number is much higher at lower
Reynolds number. The maximum FM approaches the expected
maximum FM (FM  0.65) for the baseline rotor with increasing
Reynolds number. The maximum figure of merit attained in this
Reynolds number variation experiment was ∼0.62. The collective
pitch angle at which the maximum figure of merit is attained
(optimum pitch angle) at each Reynolds number is also plotted versus
Reynolds number in Fig. 11b. It is interesting to note that, with
decreasing Reynolds number, the optimum figure of merit is achieved
at higher collective pitch angles, which would have resulted in stalled
flows at higher Reynolds numbers. This is an interesting result,
especially considering the fact that the operating disk loadings (1.57
to 2.59 N∕m2 ) are low. Finding the actual reason for this
phenomenon would require further investigation either through
detailed flowfield measurements around the blade using particle
image velocimetry or systematic computational-fluid-dynamics
studies.
 Article in Advance / SHRESTHA ET AL. 7

VIII. Conclusions
The present work has focused on experimentally investigating the
performance of a micro air vehicle (MAV)-scale helicopter rotor
operating at a blade-tip Reynolds number of less than 5000 and
relatively higher Mach number range of 0.3–0.42. The following are
specific conclusions drawn from the study.
1) It is feasible to generate the required thrust for a 200 g coaxial
helicopter on Mars with a realistic endurance (∼13 min). However,
the maximum figure of merit obtained was less than 0.4 for the
baseline rotor, which is significantly lower than what is normally
observed on typical MAV-scale helicopters. The reason for this is
probably the low lift-to-drag ratio and higher viscous losses at the
ultralow Reynolds number environment in which the Martian rotor
operates. The pitch angle corresponding to the highest figure of merit
was approximately 30 deg, which is significantly higher than what is
typically observed for higher Reynolds numbers.
2) Innovative scalability tests were also conducted at fixed
rotational speed (fixed Mach number) and varying air density to
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND on June 19, 2016 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/1.C033621

Fig. 9 Variation of power loading with thrust for 30 deg collective pitch
understand the performance of the baseline rotor over a wide range of
angle at Martian density ρ
0.0167 kg∕m3 .
Reynolds numbers from Re  3300 to 35,500. These studies showed
that the figure of merit significantly improves with increasing

Fig. 10 Variation of figure of merit with Reynolds number.

Fig. 11 Variation of maximum figure of merit and the optimum pitch angle (to obtain maximum FM) with Reynolds number.
 8 Article in Advance
Reynolds numbers and eventually achieves an FM of 0.62, which is a
typical value at MAV-scale Reynolds numbers for the present rotor
design. It is significant to note that the rate of increase of figure of
merit with Reynolds number is highly nonlinear (the rate is much
higher at lower Reynolds number). It was also observed that the pitch
angle corresponding to the highest figure of merit decreased with
increasing Reynolds numbers. The future study will involve
parametrically evaluating different rotor design parameters, which
include blade airfoil, planform shape, twist, and rotor solidity at
Martian air density. The goal is to systematically improve
aerodynamic performance to increase efficiency and endurance.
These experiments will also be carried out over a range of Reynolds
and Mach numbers, which will be useful to develop rotors at different
scales and even for operation in other planetary environments.
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