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Propulsive Effects and Design Parameters of a Wake Ingesting Propeller

McHugh, Garrett R
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1637258941575379

Abstract Details

2021, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, Mechanical Engineering.
A numerical tool chain for wake ingesting propeller applications was developed, validated and applied. The tool evaluates the propulsive properties of a propeller operating in the wake of an axisymmetric body at zero incidence. Two levels of numerical fidelity are compared; a high-fidelity, pseudo-transient model which includes modeling of the body with the full propeller geometry and a lower fidelity model which simplifies the propeller geometry into an infinitely thin actuator disk coupled with a full geometry of the upstream body. The open-source blade element code XROTOR has been used to calculate the radial distribution of circulation, induced velocities, thrust and power along a given propeller blade geometry applied to the actuator disk model. The code applies a lifting line solution modified for use with rotors and propellers. Aerodynamic characteristics required in computing radial thrust and drag for each blade airfoil section were estimated using the open-source panel method code XFOIL. The resulting values were applied as a discontinuous jump across a two-dimensional disk in a three-dimensional computation domain. The computational fluid dynamics code FLUENT was used to compute resulting flow field solutions of the three-dimensional domain for both models by solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. The k-ω SST turbulence models were used and compared with the Transition SST, Intermittency and Three-Equation models which incorporate estimations for laminar to turbulent boundary layers. The analytical tool was validated by application to previously conducted wind tunnel testing of a scale airship operating with a stern mounted propeller. Boundary and operating conditions including turbulence intensities were considered and matched in both analytical approaches. Resulting propulsive, aerodynamic and flow field quantities were compared. The subsequent studies and design tool were applied to a design study for increasing propulsive efficiency of an axisymmetric body with a wake ingesting propeller by redesign of the upstream body contour. The body was redesigned with an objective of minimizing thrust deduction and hull-propeller influence. It was discovered that the Transition SST turbulence model coupled with an actuator disk representation of the wake ingesting propeller can accurately predict propulsive performance when compared to experimental data. When applied to the upstream body contour redesign, the numerical results indicated that an appropriately designed body may lead to a 3% increase in aircraft range.
Nicholas Garafolo (Advisor)
Minel Barun (Committee Member)
Alex Hoover (Committee Member)
Scott Sawyer (Committee Member)
Alex Povitsky (Committee Member)
158 p.
Aerospace Engineering; Fluid Dynamics; Mechanical Engineering
Propeller, Actuator Disk, Propulsion, Wake Ingestion, CFD, Blade Element, Airship Propulsion, Axisymmetric Body, Boundary Layer Transition, Boundary Layer Ingestion, Multiple Reference Frame, Frozen Rotor, Propeller Design

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • McHugh, G. R. (2021). Propulsive Effects and Design Parameters of a Wake Ingesting Propeller [Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1637258941575379

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • McHugh, Garrett. Propulsive Effects and Design Parameters of a Wake Ingesting Propeller. 2021. University of Akron, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1637258941575379.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • McHugh, Garrett. "Propulsive Effects and Design Parameters of a Wake Ingesting Propeller." Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1637258941575379

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

akron1637258941575379
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© 2021, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Akron and OhioLINK.