AERO-AF-UNIMAN-06-2015-V.7.4.0

Aircraft Propeller Performance

Background

Propellers power a number of c

C130J, A400, etc.). They also pow

spite of the advances in gas tu

propeller data are few and far b

technical literature, the modern

extremely sophisticated system

Mach number operation; the bl

emissions and aerodynamic per

(propeller electronic control), an

Figure 1: Reconstruction of the F568 propeller, as used by the FLIGHT program.

Solution

Producing a realistic propeller m

of digital photographs and the

developed, we can calculate th

with the flight mechanics. Howev

1

CASE STUDY

Aircraft Propeller Performance

Antonio Filippone

The University of Manchester

January 2015

commercial and military airplanes (Dash8-Q400,

wer the great majority of light and general aviat

urbine engines, propellers are still ubiquitous in

between; with the exception of some very old

n propeller is virtually unknown. In fact, the mo

of transport airplanes. The blade sections are de

lades are swept back and in the azimuth directi

rformance; propeller control is guaranteed wit

nd its own FADEC.

Reconstruction of the F568 propeller, as used by the FLIGHT program.

model, such as the one shown in Figure 1 require

propeller’s certification documents. Once the g

he aerodynamics and aero-acoustics, in isolatio

ver, in general, it is a good idea to have performa

, ATR42, ATR72, C27,

tion airplane. Thus, in

n aviation. That said,

data available in the

odern propeller is an

esigned for transonic

ion to improve noise

th the so-called PEC

Reconstruction of the F568 propeller, as used by the FLIGHT program.

es a detailed analysis

geometrical model is

on or fully integrated

ance charts.

AERO-AF-UNIMAN-06-2015-V.7.4.0

Propeller charts are shown with

��, advance ratio �, collective pit

The way this propeller chart is in

Figure 2: E

Further References

1. Filippone A. Advanced Aircraft Flight Performance, Cambridge University Press

2. Filippone A & Mohamed-Kassim Z. Multi

Flight. Aeronautical J., 116 (1184), pp. 985

For enquiries, please write to:

Antonio Filippone

The University of Manchester

Manchester M13 9PL

United Kingdom

Email: a.filippone_at_manchester.ac.uk

2

three four main parameters: power coefficient �

tch �. One such example is shown in Figure 2.

ntegrated in the flight mechanics equations is exp

Example of predicted propeller performance chart.

Advanced Aircraft Flight Performance, Cambridge University Press

Kassim Z. Multi-Disciplinary Simulation of Propeller

(1184), pp. 985 – 1014, Oct. 2012.

Email: a.filippone_at_manchester.ac.uk

��, thrust coefficient

plained in Refs. [1-2]

Advanced Aircraft Flight Performance, Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Disciplinary Simulation of Propeller-Turboprop Aircraft