The Mi-26T2 Helicopter Transport Modification for the Civil Bulky Cargo Traffic

Aeronautical and Space-Rocket Engineering


Аuthors

Artamonov B. L.*, Sinyaev A. E.**

Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University), 4, Volokolamskoe shosse, Moscow, А-80, GSP-3, 125993, Russia

*e-mail: ABL-6124554@yandex.ru
**e-mail: sinyayev86@mail.ru

Abstract

The development of remote regions of Siberia, the Far East and the Far North of the Russian Federation is one of the priority tasks of the country economy. The cross-country capacity wheel and caterpillar mounted vehicles with a mass of Mgr from 2800 kg to 11200 kg are employed for works in these regions, to which extreme natural-and-climatic conditions as well as the absence of the developed traffic network are peculiar. These are all-terrain vehicles “Trekol”, “Burlak”, “Shaman”, “Husky”, “Rusak”, TM-120, TM-130, TM-140. Their distinctive feature is their large size, which is stipulated by the functional purpose of the transported equipment and of additional equipment installation to ensure comfortable working conditions for maintenance personnel.
Such equipment delivery to the hard-to-reach areas of the country can be accomplished only by the Mi-26T2 helicopter, which, due to its lifting capacity and power-to-weight ratio, is capable of performing such transport operations, but only if, instead of the existing cargo cabin, a special platform, located behind the cockpit and combined with the rear landing gear, is being employed. 
Such transport modification of the Mi-26T2M makes provision for: 
- fuel tanks placing in the upper part of the fuselage; 
- transportation of no less than five passengers accompanying the cargo;
- preservation of the carrier system, power plant, transmission, as well as unification of most units and systems of the helicopter with the basic version of the Mi-26T2; 
- ensuring maximum possible flight range or operating radius of the helicopter when performing a two-stage transport operation. 
The above said changes will lead to an increase in the Mi-26T2M load ratio, since the mass of an empty helicopter, compared to the prototype, can be reduced from 29,000 to 25,745 kg.
To evaluate the Mi-26T2M performance characteristics, a technique for the helicopter layout forming developed at the MAI Helicopter Design Department, supplemented by the module for the economic characteristics of the transport operation computing and validated by the example of the Mi-26T2 prototype flight tests, was employed.
The two two-stage transport operations with an operating radius of Rmax and the same fuel reserve in the internal fuel tanks of Mtop = 9850 kg were considered:
1) direct and return flights of a helicopter with Mcargo cargo;
2) direct flight of a helicopter with Mcargo cargo, and reverse flight without cargo, or vice versa.
The drag of non-load-bearing elements of the helicopter for all types of cargo was assumed as CxSMi-26T2M = 12,9 m2, and the shoulders of the forward and return flights were set equal. It was demonstrated that for the considered nomenclature of civil cargo, the maximum delivery radius Rmax when loading helicopter in both directions was in the range of 270 km ≤ Rmax  300 km, depending on the mass of the cargo. Without the helicopter loading in one of the directions, its operating radius may be increased up to 290 km  Rmax  305 km.
The principle limitation of the helicopter operating radius is the mass of fuel that can be placed in the internal fuel tanks (FT) MTOP  8450 kg. However, the helicopter load-bearing system parameters and the available engine power allow installing two extra cigar-shaped FTs with a diameter of d = 1,045 m and a length of l = 7.6 m on both sides of the fuselage, which will increase the fuel mass to Mtop max = 15650 kg. Then the empty helicopter weight will increase to Mempty = 26045 kg, and resistance to harmful CxSMi-26T2M = 14.2 m2. In this case, the maximum operating radius increases from 270 km  Rmax  300 km to 470 km  Rmax  530 km when loading helicopter in both directions due to the installation of additional FT, which is crucial when operating helicopter in the regions of Siberia, Far East and Arctic zone of the Russian Federation.

Keywords:

single-rotor helicopter, large-sized cargo, two-stage transport operation, mathematical model of weight and aerodynamic computation, helicopter layout

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