[OpenVSP] Propeller prediction and experimental testing

[湯勛云]

Hi all,

I am currently making my own propeller prediction model, and I would like to have a propeller design with details and experimental data to test the precision of my BEMT code. Have anyone done it before? It would be nice of you if you could share your propeller parameters and testing results. Thank you all!

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Best Regards,

TANG, Hsun-yun Wayne

[Brandon Litherland]

We see this fairly often and not just in the Google Group.

I'll credit XKCD with the image below that summarizes how models and standards proliferate.

Before you put in all the work of making your own code, I strongly advise you to consider the many existing solvers out there and determine if your model would greatly advance the underlying theory or techniques in some way or is more of a modification of one or another. If this effort is part of an undergraduate or graduate course deliverable, please state so in your question.

Regarding any experimental data and propeller designs, the answer will depend on what kind of propeller or rotor you're describing.  Helicopter rotor codes tend to behave differently (and operate on slightly different assumptions) that traditional propeller codes.  The size of the propeller also comes into play. A seven foot diameter propeller is performs differently than a scaled version only two feet in diameter at the same tip speeds.

The Hamilton Standard Propeller model (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19720010354/downloads/19720010354.pdf) isn't a bad place to start.  You can also search NASA's Technical Reports Server (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/) for propeller tests.  If you need something more specific, please provide additional information.