Toward a Scalable Propeller Performance Map

摘要

Propeller performance is traditionally represented by a performance map that gives propeller efficiency as a function of the flight Mach number, the power coefficient C_P, and the advance ratio J. This work aims to demonstrate how this map changes when the design C_P and J change and to propose a novel map format that is able to capture the performance of different propeller designs. For this purpose, the propeller performance is simulated using a propeller lifting-line method validated for the SR3 propfan. Subsequently, the propeller model is used within a sequential quadratic programming framework to optimize the blade twist and chord distribution for different sets of design C_P and J. A complete propeller performance map is then generated for each one of the optimized designs. The results demonstrate that all the investigated propellers can be modeled by a common map, which determines separately the ideal efficiency and the viscous losses. The ideal efficiency is given in the traditional format of η_i = f(C_P, J), whereas the viscous losses are represented as a function of the relative variables C_P/C_(Pdes) and J/J_(des).