Middle East Technical University

Department of Aerospace Engineering

AEE 334 Propulsion Systems I

Homework III
Assigned : 7 April 2022, Friday
Due : 25 April 2022, Tuesday 23:59, in PDF to ODTUCLASS

A propeller blade is twisted, that is its geometric pitch is varied, from its root to tip, so that
a nearly uniform angle of incidence is assured during flight. (To see how propellers look, visit
: https://www.boldmethod.com/learn-to-fly/systems/how-a-propeller-works-and-generates-thrust-as-it-turns/). Consider
such a two-blade propeller with a linear twist of 42o , tip section pitch angle of 16o , hub
radius rh of 15 cm, and tip radius rt = R of 75 cm is built. The chordlength and airfoil
distributions are given in the table below together with corresponding simplified aerodynamic
data:
r̄ = r/R 0.20 0.25 0.35 0.70 0.85 1.00
c̄ = c/R 0.07 0.08 0.18 0.16 0.14 0.12
Airfoil MH126 MH126 MH113 MH113 MH117 MH120
a0 [deg−1 ] 0.101 0.101 0.110 0.110 0.112 0.113
αℓ=0 [deg] -5.4 -5.4 -4.0 -4.0 -3.0 -2.0
cd 0.0305 0.0305 0.0205 0.0205 0.0200 0.0200

The geometric data as well as more accurate aerodynamic properties of these airfoils may
be found at

• https://www.mh-aerotools.de/airfoils/mh126koo.htm

Get the airfoil coordinates from this web page but for simplicity use the constant aerodynamic
data given for each airfoil in the table above.
Note that when a blade element center radial coordinate, say rE does fall at different
coordinates than those of the above stations given in the table, both the local geometric
and aerodynamic data may be found by interpolation using the data of those sections, say
section A and section B containing the blade element. See figure below:

pB − pA
any property of element E, pE = pA + (rE − rA) , p : property
rB − rA

airfoil A

rB
rE

rA airfoil B

blade element E

a) Build the propeller surface data and visualize it using a graphic package (such as Visit,
Tecplot). Given the airfoil types along the span, the surface coordinates of a twisted-blade

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may be calculated using
r − rhub
β = βhub − βtwist
rtip − rhub
x = xa cos β − ya sin β
y = ya cos β + xa sin β
z = r, r = rhub to rtip
where xa and ya are the surface coordinates of the airfoil. A piece of Fortran code is provided
below as a hint :
! a piece of Fortran code to build propeller blades from
! given airfoil surface data .. assume on each airfoils surface imax points exist...
integer, parameter :: imax = 101 ! number of points on airfoil surface
integer, parameter :: no_airfoils = 4 ! number of airfoils
real, dimension( imax, no_airfoils ) :: x_a, y_a ! coordinates of points on airfoils
real, dimension( imax ) :: x_ai, y_ai ! interpolated airfoil coordinates
character( len = 30 ), dimension( no_airfoils ) :: airfoil_files
integer, parameter :: no_blades = 2, jmax = 41
integer :: i, j, n, nb, npoints ....
real :: ...
airfoil_files( 1 ) = ’mh126.dat’
...
do n = 1, no_airfoils
open( 1, file = trim( airfoil_files( nair ) ), form = ’formatted’, status = ’old’ )
read( 1, * ) npoints
if( npoints /= imax ) stop ’ npoints /= imax in code -- correct and recompile’
do i = 1, imax
read( 1, * ) x_a( i, n ), y_a( i, n )
enddo
close( 1 )
enddo
! build blades
open( 10, file = ’propeller.plt’, form = ’formatted’ )
write( 10, ’(a)’ ) ’Variables="x","y","z"’
pi = 4. * atan(1.)
dr = (r_tip - r_hub) / real(jmax-1)
do nb = 1, no_blades
write(10, ’(a,2(i4,a))’ ) ’ZONE I = ’,imax,’, J =’,jmax,’, K = 1, F=POINT’
ang_pos = 2. * pi * real( n - 1 ) / real( no_blades )
do j = 1, jmax
r = r_hub + dr * real( j - 1 )
beta = beta_hub - ( ( r - r_hub ) / ( r_tip - r_hub ) ) * beta_twist
!convert to radians
beta = beta * pi / 180.
! get local airfoil surface coordinates
if( r / r_tip >= 0.12 .and. r / r_tip <= 0.20 )then
!... interpolate for local airfoil between airfoils
...
elseif( r / r_tip > 0.30 .and. r / r_tip <= 0.70 )
!... example
n1 = 2
n2 = 3
do i = 1, imax
xslope = ( x_a( i, n2 ) - x_a( i, n1 ) ) / ( 0.70 - 0.30 )
yslope = ( y_a( i, n2 ) - y_a( i, n1 ) ) / ( 0.70 - 0.30 )
x_ai( i ) = x_a( i, n1 ) + xslope * ( r / r_tip - 0.30 )
y_ai( i ) = y_a( i, n1 ) + yslope * ( r / r_tip - 0.30 )
enddo
elseif ...
...
endif

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 ! scale for local chord
r_bar = r / r_tip
call get_local_chord_length( r_bar, c_bar )
x_ai = c_bar * r_tip * x_ai
y_ai = c_bar * r_tip * y_ai
do i = 1, imax
! section in x-y plane, z = r
x_sec = x_ai(i,j) * cos(beta) - y_ai(i,j) * sin(beta)
y_sec = y_ai(i,j) * cos(beta) + x_ai(i,j) * sin(beta)
z_sec = r
! introduce phase (locate blade in plane of rotation)
x = x_sec * cos(ang_pos) - z_sec * sin(ang_pos)
y = y_sec
z = z_sec * cos(ang_pos) + x_sec * sin(ang_pos)
write(10,’(3(e14.7,2x))’) x, y, z
enddo
enddo
enddo
close(10)
...

NOTE: You may need to rearrange the equations in this sample code according to the
correct orientation of the airfoil. See figure below:

b) When the rotational speed is such that the tip Mach number is MT = 0.6, and the flight
Mach number is M∞ = 0.2, calculate at sea level the thrust the propeller will generate, and
calculate how much torque and shaft power are needed for this operation.

• Use at least 10 blade elements.

• In your report, include all the steps (equations and substitutions of the nu-
merical values of the parameters/variables) for the calculations at least for
one blade element.
• Show in a table all the calculated parameters for the blade elements.
• Plot along the span ( r̄ vs. ) the variations of
– blade pitch β,

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 – angle the relative velocity V⃗R makes from the plane of rotation,
– angle of attack,
– induced angle of attack,
– effective angle of attack
– lift of the blade element

• INCLUDE the code(s) you use for any part of this HW. The code(s) that you submit
must be in working condition (must produce results when compiled/run/etc.). Codes
are acceptable only in : Fortran, Matlab, Excel.

BONUS (50%) : When the number of blade elements is increased, accuracy of the
calculations increases. Show this is true using 10, 15, 20 blade elements. Are the results
given by 10 and 15 elements closer to each other than those given by 15 and 20 elements?
Discuss.

STATE ALL ASSUMTIONS MADE!