Monolithic Rotor Blade Root Design for Gyroplane Hub Articulation

The invention extracts the drag damping function from the laminated spherical thrust bearing by introducing a separate drag damper. This separation allows the thrust bearing to only handle articulation and radial compressive forces, eliminating the complex combination of compressive and shear forces that made it difficult to manufacture. The bearing becomes simpler and easier to produce while the drag damper independently handles drag oscillations.

The invention segments the functions previously combined in the laminated spherical thrust bearing into two separate components: the thrust bearing handles only articulation and radial loads, while the drag damper handles drag oscillations. This functional segmentation simplifies the thrust bearing design and manufacturing while maintaining all necessary rotor functions.

The drag damping function is extracted from the thrust bearing and assigned to a dedicated drag damper. This allows the thrust bearing to be optimized for its articulation function only, using smaller dimensions sufficient for handling radial compressive forces without the need to be oversized for combined shear and compressive loads, thereby reducing the bearing mass.

By segmenting the load functions between the thrust bearing and drag damper, each component can be sized appropriately for its specific function. The thrust bearing is lighter because it only needs to handle radial compressive forces, while the drag damper independently manages drag oscillations without adding to the bearing mass.