CFD ANALYSIS TO UNDERSTAND THE EFFECT ON AERODYNAMICS PERFORMANCE OF A MICRO PROPELLER FOR MAV

摘要

The endurance of MA V depends upon the propulsive efficiency, which gained by understanding of its aerodynamics and design. This research work deals with the study of aerodynamic performance over a micro propeller for MAV application through numerical simulation. A base propeller was selected from the case study. It was modelled using CATIA V5R18 and CFD analysis was carried out using ANSYS FLUENT 12.0. Six new designs were generated by varying the span wise position of maximum blade chord, maximum chord length and pitch to diameter ratio of the base propeller. The performance of these designs were analyzed through CFD simulations and compared in terms of efficiency, torque and thrust coefficient. However, the required thrust of 1N was achieved by increasing chord length 1.2 times the base line design at an efficiency of 61.6%. The propeller efficiency was increased to 67.8% .The result of this study is useful in the design of efficient micro air propellers for the indigenous micro air vehicle.