Aerodynamic Interaction in a Three Rotor Tandem Configuration

10/10/2022

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.

Autores da comunidade :

• 

  J

  Jaime Joaquín González Pérez

  ist1101338

Orientadores desta instituição:

• 

  F

  Filipe Szolnoky Ramos Pinto Cunha

  ist14018

• 

  J

  José Raul Carreira Azinheira

  ist12745

mechanical-engineering - Engenharia Mecânica

eng - Inglês

Instituto Superior Técnico