Analysis on the Turbulence Flow on Propeller with Varying Blades Counts

Abstract

This paper aims at investigating the impact of changing the number of blades on the thrust force and efficiency at turbulent flows to improve the propeller design. The propeller performance is important in many applications, such as aviation and marine propulsion systems, where efficiency and thrust force are important. A CFD approach was used to study the flow field and thrust and torque characteristics of propellers with two, three, and four blades. These simulations were based on the velocity and pressure distributions, thrust force, and aerodynamic efficiency, all of which were maintained at optimal levels of operation. Quantitative analysis revealed a clear trend: greater numbers of blades increased the thrust force and efficiency of the system. In particular, the thrust force increased three times when comparing the blade numbers of two and three, changing from 0.3556 N to -1.2766 N. The same trend was observed for the thrust force, which increased from 1.4966 N for the three blades to 2.9818 N for the four blades. This shows that the addition of blades does increase efficiency, but the degree to which this increases efficiency decreases as the number of blades increases: an example of a nonlinear relationship. The thrust coefficient also increased with the number of blades, suggesting better aerodynamics. Additional information was obtained from the velocity and pressure contours. For the two-blade configuration, the flow separation resulted in high pressure around the rotation domain and low pressure in the static domain for the thrust force. The three- and four-blade designs showed that the flow was smoother, the flow separation was less pronounced, and the pressure differences were higher, which contributed to higher thrust and efficiency. The results of this research advance the understanding of propeller behavior in turbulent flow fields. This paper proposes a mathematical model that establishes the correlation between the blade count and aerodynamic performance, which will be useful for future propeller design in aviation, marine, and other forms of transport. More studies should be conducted to understand higher blade geometries and materials to enhance efficiency.