Modelling of a Flexible Quadrirotor Helicopter

This paper describes the dynamical modelling for the simulation of the quadrirotor Helicopter in order to see the influence of the flexibility on the dynamical model. We consider a quadrirotor Helicopter like a multibody systems constituted of the flexible and rigid substructures interconnected by of articulation joint. We use the variationnal Lagrangian approach to define the equations governing the motion. Deformations modes are used to represent elastic deformations of the substructure relative to a body reference frame. The displacement functions shape of the flexible components is obtained by a finite element discretization technique. The numerical application is related to the quadrirotor XSF developed in the LSC (Laboratory of Complex Systems).