Impact of Blade Sweep on Aerodynamic and Aeroacoustic Performance Optimization of Isolated Propellers

Master thesis (2021)

Authors

W. de Haan Aerospace Engineering

Contributors

T. Sinnige Flight Performance and Propulsion - Aerospace Engineering (mentor)
G. Eitelberg Flight Performance and Propulsion - Aerospace Engineering (mentor)
D. Ragni Wind Energy - Aerospace Engineering (graduation committee member)
Faculty
Aerospace Engineering, Aerospace Engineering
Copyright: © 2021 Wouter de Haan
More Info
expand_more

Published Date

25-08-2021

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

Due to the rising demand for short-range air travel and the desire for aircraft driven by electric propulsion, there has been a renewed interest in propeller research. Despite the high potential aerodynamic efficiency of propellers, their excessive noise emissions prevent a widespread use on aircraft. A gradient based optimization study is performed to assess the trade-off between aerodynamic and aeroacoustic performance of propellers. A blade-element-momentum theory(BEMT) approach with a dependence to the effects of blade sweep is used. The BEMT-model is combined with a frequency domain approach for tonal noise prediction. The optimization study shows that the advance ratio and pitch are important operational parameters during the climb phase to induce a noise reduction. The application of blade sweep proves useful as a design measure to reduce noise, given that the propeller operates in high speed conditions.