Aerodynamic design of tractor propeller for high-performance distributed electric propulsion aircraft

Kelei WANG, Zhou ZHOU, Zhongyun FAN, Jiahao GUO

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Aiming to maximize the aerodynamic performance of the Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP) aircraft, a hybrid design framework which focuses on the aerodynamic performance of the propeller/wing integration has been developed and validated numerically. Variable-fidelity modelling for propeller aerodynamics has been used to achieve computational efficiency with reasonable accuracy. By optimizing the aerodynamic loading distributions on the tractor propeller disk, the induced slipstream is redistributed into a form that is beneficial for the wing downstream, based on which the propeller blade geometry is generated through a rapid inversed design procedure. As compared with the Minimum Induced Loss (MIL) propeller at a specified thrust level, significant improvements of both the lift-to-drag ratio of the wing and the propeller/wing integrated aerodynamic efficiency is achieved, which shows great promise to deliver aerodynamic benefits for the wing within the propeller slipstream without any additional devices.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)20-35
Number of pages16
JournalChinese Journal of Aeronautics
Volume34
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2021

Keywords

  • Aerodynamic loading distributions
  • Aerodynamic performance
  • Distributed electric propulsion
  • Hybrid design framework
  • Propeller/wing integration
  • Variable-fidelity propeller modelling and aerodynamic analyses methods

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