Blade-Tip Vortex Noise Mitigation Traded-Off against Aerodynamic Design for Propellers of Future Electric Aircraft
We study noise generation at the blade tips of propellers designed for future electric aircraft propulsion and, furthermore, analyze the interrelationship between noise mitigation and aerodynamics improvement in terms of propeller geometric designs. Classical propellers with three or six blades and...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Aerospace |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/9/12/825 |
| _version_ | 1827642349882179584 |
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| author | Hua-Dong Yao Zhongjie Huang Lars Davidson Jiqiang Niu Zheng-Wei Chen |
| author_facet | Hua-Dong Yao Zhongjie Huang Lars Davidson Jiqiang Niu Zheng-Wei Chen |
| author_sort | Hua-Dong Yao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We study noise generation at the blade tips of propellers designed for future electric aircraft propulsion and, furthermore, analyze the interrelationship between noise mitigation and aerodynamics improvement in terms of propeller geometric designs. Classical propellers with three or six blades and a conceptual propeller with three joined dual-blades are compared to understand the effects of blade tip vortices on the noise generation and aerodynamics. The dual blade of the conceptual propeller is constructed by joining the tips of two sub-blades. These propellers are designed to operate under the same freestream flow conditions and similar electric power consumption. The Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (IDDES) is adopted for the flow simulation to identify high-resolution time-dependent noise sources around the blade tips. The acoustic computations use a time-domain method based on the convective Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings (FW-H) equation. The thrust of the 3-blade conceptual propeller is <inline-formula><math display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>4</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> larger than the 3-blade classical propeller and <inline-formula><math display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>8</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> more than the 6-blade one, given that they have similar efficiencies. Blade tip vortices are found emitting broadband noise. Since the classical and conceptual 3-blade propellers have different geometries, especially at the blade tips, they introduce deviations in the vortex development. However, the differences are small regarding the broadband noise generation. As compared to the 6-blade classical propeller, both 3-blade propellers produce much larger noise. The reason is that the increased number of blades leads to the reduced strength of tip vortices. The findings indicate that the noise mitigation through the modification of the blade design and number can be traded-off by the changed aerodynamic performance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:27:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ab576a8b559247ae89080b61d910b8a5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2226-4310 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:27:11Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Aerospace |
| spelling | doaj.art-ab576a8b559247ae89080b61d910b8a52023-11-24T12:38:39ZengMDPI AGAerospace2226-43102022-12-0191282510.3390/aerospace9120825Blade-Tip Vortex Noise Mitigation Traded-Off against Aerodynamic Design for Propellers of Future Electric AircraftHua-Dong Yao0Zhongjie Huang1Lars Davidson2Jiqiang Niu3Zheng-Wei Chen4Department of Mechanics and Maritime Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, SwedenVolvo Cars, SE-405 31 Gothenburg, SwedenDepartment of Mechanics and Maritime Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, SwedenSchool of Mechanical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, ChinaDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaWe study noise generation at the blade tips of propellers designed for future electric aircraft propulsion and, furthermore, analyze the interrelationship between noise mitigation and aerodynamics improvement in terms of propeller geometric designs. Classical propellers with three or six blades and a conceptual propeller with three joined dual-blades are compared to understand the effects of blade tip vortices on the noise generation and aerodynamics. The dual blade of the conceptual propeller is constructed by joining the tips of two sub-blades. These propellers are designed to operate under the same freestream flow conditions and similar electric power consumption. The Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (IDDES) is adopted for the flow simulation to identify high-resolution time-dependent noise sources around the blade tips. The acoustic computations use a time-domain method based on the convective Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings (FW-H) equation. The thrust of the 3-blade conceptual propeller is <inline-formula><math display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>4</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> larger than the 3-blade classical propeller and <inline-formula><math display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>8</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> more than the 6-blade one, given that they have similar efficiencies. Blade tip vortices are found emitting broadband noise. Since the classical and conceptual 3-blade propellers have different geometries, especially at the blade tips, they introduce deviations in the vortex development. However, the differences are small regarding the broadband noise generation. As compared to the 6-blade classical propeller, both 3-blade propellers produce much larger noise. The reason is that the increased number of blades leads to the reduced strength of tip vortices. The findings indicate that the noise mitigation through the modification of the blade design and number can be traded-off by the changed aerodynamic performance.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/9/12/825electric aircraftpropellerblade tip designtip-vortex noiseIDDESFW-H equation |
| spellingShingle | Hua-Dong Yao Zhongjie Huang Lars Davidson Jiqiang Niu Zheng-Wei Chen Blade-Tip Vortex Noise Mitigation Traded-Off against Aerodynamic Design for Propellers of Future Electric Aircraft Aerospace electric aircraft propeller blade tip design tip-vortex noise IDDES FW-H equation |
| title | Blade-Tip Vortex Noise Mitigation Traded-Off against Aerodynamic Design for Propellers of Future Electric Aircraft |
| title_full | Blade-Tip Vortex Noise Mitigation Traded-Off against Aerodynamic Design for Propellers of Future Electric Aircraft |
| title_fullStr | Blade-Tip Vortex Noise Mitigation Traded-Off against Aerodynamic Design for Propellers of Future Electric Aircraft |
| title_full_unstemmed | Blade-Tip Vortex Noise Mitigation Traded-Off against Aerodynamic Design for Propellers of Future Electric Aircraft |
| title_short | Blade-Tip Vortex Noise Mitigation Traded-Off against Aerodynamic Design for Propellers of Future Electric Aircraft |
| title_sort | blade tip vortex noise mitigation traded off against aerodynamic design for propellers of future electric aircraft |
| topic | electric aircraft propeller blade tip design tip-vortex noise IDDES FW-H equation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/9/12/825 |
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