Investigation of the effects of distributed propulsion over a flying body

• Main Author: Lee, Ann
• Other Authors: Chan Wai Lee
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Engineering::Aeronautical engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/168456
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Since the introduction of powered flight, immense progress has been made to arrive at the aircrafts we see today. One of the focuses in the current age is to reduce fuel consumption. Distributed propulsion systems show great potential in improving efficiency and achieving the goal of reducing fuel consumption. This project investigates the technique applied on a wing model. The effects of three parameters, namely rotational direction of propellers, total power output, and number of propellers were explored. Lift and drag values were measured for comparison, along with the lift-to-drag ratio. It was found that changing rotational directions of the propellers does not result in significant differences. Increasing the total power output results in an increase in stall angle, but a slight decrease in aerodynamic efficiency. Increasing the number of propellers while maintaining the total power output does not affect lift significantly but increases aerodynamic efficiency. Overall, the results are promising for the actual application of distributed propulsion system on flying aircrafts, especially in light of the rising market of eVTOL, though further work to finetune the method is necessary.