Comparative analysis of different aerodynamic models for the propeller performance prediction

What is it about?

This study evaluated the accuracy of various numerical tools ranging from low-fidelity to high-fidelity in predicting the aerodynamic performance of a propeller operating in positve and negative thrust conditions and revealed some crucial insights: 1. Blade Element Momentum (BEM) and Lifting Line (LL) theories should be used cautiously for performance predictions and optimization purposes especially when dealing with propeller operation at negative thrust conditions. Their limitations become evident due to the neglect of 3D effects, making them less reliable in such operational scenarios. 2. Steady RANS and Unsteady RANS simulations are shown to be better alternatives than the wall-modelled Lattice-Boltzmann Very Large Eddy Simulations (LB-VLES) when the focus is primarily the evaluation of the aerodynamic performance of the propeller and not the propeller slipstream. The RANS simulations strike a better balance between accuracy and computational efficiency for such analyses.

Featured Image

Photo by S. Tsuchiya on Unsplash

Photo by S. Tsuchiya on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The trade-off between different models was clearly presented, and the expected accuracy for models varied from simple blade-element momentum theory to high-fidelity lattice-Boltzmann very large eddy simulations.