Analysis of an over the wing based distributed propulsion system

Analysis of an over the wing based distributed propulsion system

Khajehzadeh, Arash (TU Delft Aerospace Engineering)

Veldhuis, L.L.M. (mentor)
Hulshoff, S.J. (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

Aerospace Engineering

2018-03-15

This project aims to investigate propeller wing interaction of an over the wing (OTW) based distributed propulsion (DP) system with the addition of a secondary wing. This research explored the opportunities that OTW configuration provides to DP concept, such as improving the lifting performance of system by inducing the flow over the upper surface of wing. Secondary wing is oriented in a biplane configuration above propeller and intends to improve propeller’s performance by decreasing propeller’s inflow velocity. This research aimed to investigate the influence of shape and position modification on the system’s aerodynamic performance and overall propulsive efficiency. The influence of spacing between the wings, position of propeller, secondary wing’s angle of attack and secondary wing’s initial lift coefficient on aerodynamic performance and overall propulsive efficiency of DP system was investigated in this project.
The analysis of this particular configuration was performed with the help of Euler calculations. Eliminating viscous effects from the analysis, reduced the demanded computational cost of this study and could help this research to perform a broader investigation. The influence of isothermal flow condition on Euler calculation was examined to reduce the computational cost of optimization study; This study showed that the drag coefficient of system is sensitive to this assumption and that only by simulating the initial and final points of the optimization study with adiabatic flow condition, the use of isothermal flow condition could be justified. The secondary wing’s shape was optimized to study the influence of its shape variation on the system’s aerodynamic performance. The first optimization study aimed to decrease the drag coefficient of system, and as a result, overall propulsive efficiency of was improved. The second optimization study aimed to improve the lifting performance of system. As a result, the drag coefficient of system significantly increased, however, the overall propulsive efficiency was again improved. The flow decelerated between main wing and secondary wing since the lifting performance of secondary wing improved, which increased the propeller’s thrust according to blade element method (BEM) calculation.

propeller wing interaction
numerical analysis
over the wing
Optimization
CFD
cfx
distributed propulsion
actuator disc

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:f9a658fe-9d0b-4a1d-808a-908698c8e8c2

Student theses

master thesis

© 2018 Arash Khajehzadeh