To: All
I caught a lot of flack on this subject and it came from all angles. Some of you quoted College Engineering Texts and others High School Physics Textbooks, all of which said that Centrifugal Force is a non-force. I stated that rotor system designers were more interested in centrifugal force as opposed to centripetal force in order to calculate the stress levels and safety levels on the rotorheads. With that, Nick Lappos called me three kinds of fool and several kinds of idiot. I am willing to take that kind of criticism when I know I am wrong. To either disprove or prove my contention I contacted Sikorsky Helicopters and asked the question. The question was presented to the rotor design group and here is their answer.
“It took awhile, but the response from our Rotorhead Design group is as
follows:
"When you set up a free body diagram of a rotating mass such as a blade, one
force is in the direction toward the center of rotation (centripetal force),
the other force is in the direction away from the center of rotation
(centrifugal force). They are the same force, centrifugal being the more
common term."
We hope that this is helpful.
Regards,
Robert McFarland
WCS HelpDesk
Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation
Ph: 800-946-4337 or 203-386-3001
Fax: 203-386-5983
Email:
[email protected] <mailto:
[email protected]>