In this paper, designs of slotted propeller blade were discussed numerically, in terms of aerodynamic performance and static structural analysis. Baseline APC Slow Flyer 10’ x 7’ small scale propeller blade was modified by including slots along the propeller blade. Numerical analysis has been done to determine the influence of slots angle towards thrust coefficient, power coefficient and efficiency. Simulations were performed by using ANSYS Fluent implementing k-ω turbulence model and Multiple Reference Frame to incorporate rotational speed of the propeller. The analyses were conducted at a fixed rotational speed, with variance of advance ratio. Initial slotted design is set at 180 degree and the angles were changed with 10-degree interval, ranging from 180 degree to 90 degree. The results were compared with available experimental data. For the slotted design, the result shows that inducing slots do not always lead to improvement in propeller blade performance. Improvement in thrust coefficient with the range of 0.267% to 2.71% can be seen for low advance ratio for most of slot angles. However, a significant increase in power coefficient can be observed which reduces the overall efficiency of the propeller blade. For stress and deformation, ANSYS Mechanical Static Structure was used to determine maximum Von-Mises stress, maximum Von-Mises strain, and total deformation. The analyses were conducted by using 60% long strand fiber glass reinforced nylon 6 Natural. The blade is more suitable to operate at higher velocity. At lower operational velocity, the blade tends to experience material failure as the stress exceeds stress at break.
Numerical Investigation of Effects of Airspeed and Rotational Speed on Quadrotor UAV Propeller Thrust Coefficient
