Seminar: Rotorcraft Design and Challenges - Feb. 1
Lauriane Lefevre
Researcher, École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers
Monday, Feb. 1 | 9:00 A.M. | Zoom Webinar
Abstract: Rotorcrafts are widely recognized for their vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) and hovering capabilities. They have been developed and used for civil and military needs. Contrary to airplanes, helicopters can access narrow regions and ensure a wide variety of missions. However, rotorcrafts present a lot of challenges that are yet to be solved. In that context, new configurations are created to maximize the performances of the aircraft while conserving hovering capabilities.
This lecture will offer an introduction on rotorcraft design and aerodynamics. Main challenges will be underlined and solutions presented. In parallel, the working of airplanes and drones will be done, with concrete examples and exercises.
Bio: Lauriane Lefevre was born in Versailles (France). In 2019, she obtained a generalist engineering Master at ICAM (Institut Catholique des Arts et Métiers). Her education allowed her to develop knowledge in different fields such as: mechanical engineering, material science, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, electronics, informatics and philosophy.
In 2018, she joined the Duisburg-Essen Universität Fluid Mechanics department to do a research project on the “geometry optimization by sedimentation”. This project was the opportunity to develop a MATLAB code to automatically improve the efficiency of pipes depending on the environment constraints.
In 2019, she joined ONERA (Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales) to experimentally study the aerodynamic rotor/propeller interactions. Her PhD thesis aims to determine the ideal configuration of hybrid compound helicopters using a 1/7.7 model scale Sud-Aviation SA365 Dauphin Helicopter. Experiments are conducted in the ONERA L2 large size-low speed wind tunnel. This work takes part in two major European projects: CHARME that signs a strong ONERA-Airbus collaboration, and AG25 that unites 15 European actors around the study of hybrid compound helicopter interactions.
This PhD thesis led to participation at the 2020 ODAS (ONERA-DLR Symposium) on the “Characterization of the propeller for the experimental evaluation of the aerodynamic rotor/propeller interactions in hybrid compound helicopters”. She will also participate in the upcoming ERF (European Rotorcraft Forum) on the “Experimental evaluation of the aerodynamic rotor/propeller interactions in hybrid compound helicopters”.
Since 2019, Lauriane has been teaching thermodynamics and fluid dynamics at ENSAM (École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers) and ICAM for third- and fourth-year students.