Performance of Contra-Rotating Propellers for Stratospheric Airships
Zhihao Tang, Peiqing Liu/ Jingwei Sun/Yaxi Chen, Hao Guo and Guangchao Li
International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sicences, vol. 16, no. 4, pp.485-492, 2015
Abstract : Small advance ratio and low Reynolds number of stratospheric propulsion system bring lots of challenges to the design
of propellers. Contra-rotating propeller configuration is proposed to improve the propulsion efficiency. In this paper, the
feasibility of contra-rotating propeller for stratospheric airship has been assessed and its performance has been investigated
by wind tunnel tests. The experimental results indicate, at relatively low Reynolds number, although the advance ratio is fixed,
the performance of propellers is different with variation of Reynolds number. Moreover, at the same Reynolds number, the
efficiency of contra-rotating propeller achieved appears to be a few percent greater than that for a standard conventional
propulsion system. It can be concluded that contra-rotating propellers would be an efficient means to improve the
performance of stratospheric airship propulsion system.
Keyword : contra-rotating propeller, stratospheric airship, low Reynolds number, small advance ratio |