Design of a helicopter component by resin transfer molding process

In this work we present the numerical and experimental studies performed to design a novel configuration of a three-dimensional aerodynamic component, beanie, which is traditionally manufactured by prepreg technique. In particular, the design was performed considering the resin transfer molding (RTM) process. The new design by RTM that we developed has several dvantages in terms of reduced manufacturing cycles and enhanced mechanical properties. A bird impact analysis was performed to compare the two configurations. The bird impact analysis shows that the new configuration by RTM improves the mechanical performance of the component by reducing significantly the maximum pressure and the z displacement consequent to a bird strike. At the same time, the total weight of the structure is reduced by approximately 25% with respect to traditional design processes.