Master's Thesis
Aerodynamic Interaction in a Three Rotor Tandem Configuration
2022
—Key information
Authors:
Supervisors:
Published in
10/10/2022
Abstract
The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the impact of several parameters (rotor diameter, interaxial and interplanar separations and rotation speed) on the performance of partially overlapping tandem rotor configurations. It is pretended to contribute to the development of alternative drone configurations with the attained results, in particular to tandem configurations present in drones with two rotor planes. An outline of Momentum Theory is presented as a first-approximation analysis of isolated rotors, along with an existing adaptation of the theory for tandem-rotor configurations accounting for the rotor interaction. A modification of this model is proposed so that it also takes in regard the interplanar separation other than the interaxial distance. A testing bench originally developed for the study of coaxial configurations for two small rotors has been adapted for the study of tandem configurations of up to three rotors. The instruments are capable of measuring the thrust and torque produced by them, and the calibration of the setup was verified with performance data provided by the manufacturer and with CFD simulations data. Several CFD simulations were carried out with CAD models which highly resemble the original propellers. The rotor interaction was successfully captured in regard to thrust loss. The downstream rotor performance was found to be very sensitive to the interaxial separation and to the upstream rotor angular velocity, while the upstream rotor diameter variation had an intermediate impact and the effect of the interplanar separation was slight.
Publication details
Authors in the community:
Jaime Joaquín González Pérez
ist1101338
Supervisors of this institution:
José Raul Carreira Azinheira
ist12745
Fields of Science and Technology (FOS)
mechanical-engineering - Mechanical engineering
Publication language (ISO code)
eng - English
Rights type:
Embargo lifted
Date available:
07/20/2023
Institution name
Instituto Superior Técnico