Experimental validation of inertial twist concept for rotor blade application

The present study performs a set of static tests to demonstrate novel passive morphing concept. concept introduces bend–twist coupled composite spar rotor blades, allowing for twist be achieved by imposing lagwise bending moment using centrifugal forces produced movable mass at the blade tip. First, three spars are fabricated symmetric layup configuration with varied ply orientations. A designed replicate effect during rotation, where detailed distribution twist, deflection and strain measured on each loading conditions. experimental results suggest that can well controlled position tip rotational speed. It was also found is linear when small, whereas quadratic observed large due induced lateral restoring forces. Furthermore, influence angle upon demonstrated from numerical results.