| Popis: |
Validation is the essential process of evaluating the precision and reliability of analytical or computational solutions. A series of preliminary propeller wind tunnel tests are designed for validating propeller design and analysis techniques. This work focuses primarily on small propellers operating at Reynolds numbers in the range of 90,000 to 120,000, which is particularly helpful for unmanned aerial vehicle applications. Details of the propeller geometry is described here; however, experimental apparatus geometries along with test section spatial dimensionality will be presented in future work. An open-source computeraided design (CAD) method was used to create the propeller blades, nacelle, and spinner surface outlines, aiming for easy geometry specification reproduction. A simple propeller design with constant pitch-to-diameter ratio, chord length, and thickness was tested. The propeller with an incremental variable pitch of five degrees was tested at three different angles. In addition to classical propeller performance plots of thrust and torque coefficients and efficiency against the advance ratio, nacelle surface pressure distribution was measured in terms of coefficients at several advance ratios. |
