Validation of Scanned Propeller Geometry for Simulation Modeling

3D scanning technology is used to acquire the airfoil geometry, twist, taper, and chord distribution of several propellers spanning 10-15" in diameter. Sectional airload properties are then derived from the geometry using the HAM2D computational fluid dynamics solver and construct an RCAS model of each propeller. A comparison between the scan-derived RCAS model and experimentally obtained thrust and torque measurements in hover shows generally reasonable agreement for integrated airloads, with predictions within 5% of thrust and 8% of torque. Representative scanning accuracy error is injected in the model to identify the mode of error which has the largest impact on the predictions, between airfoil geometry (camber), chord length, and twist distribution. It is determined that imprecise scanning and error in the measured twist distribution provides the greatest source of modeling error(5.9%) through this process, likely due the the reliance of these parameters on as little as two scan points. The importance of Reynolds effect modeling at this scale is also confirmed.