ABSTRACT
The objective of this proposal was to design, fabricate, and characterize, highly twisted (-30 degrees to -45 degrees) and swept (20 degrees back) composite tilt rotor blades. The swept tip is the novel and new basic research component. Comprehensive analysis performed by the US Government and Academia in the last decade have shown the potential of swept tip blades in extending whirl flutter boundary. Swept tip blades can be also contribute positively to DoDs vision of 2X speed of Future Vertical Lift (FVL). The intent is to follow-up this seed program with wind-tunnel testing of the blades at Maryland Tiltrotor Rig (MTR) at the Glenn L Martin wind tunnel. The project tracked all its milestones and completed all deliverables. The blades were designed, fabricated, characterized, integrated on the MTR, and spun-up for loads check-out on Sep-Oct 2019 a few months before the campus and the facilities shut down due to covid-19.