Prof. Dr. Mustafa Cavcar, 2004.

1
Propeller

Prof. Dr. Mustafa Cavcar
Anadolu University, School of Civil Aviation
Eskisehir, Turkey

For a propeller driven aircraft, thrust is produced by a propeller converting the
shaft torque into propulsive force, and depends on the propeller efficiency [1].
However, propeller efficiency depends on the propeller angle of attack,
consequently on the advance ratio given by

nD
V
J =

where V is the forward velocity of the aircraft, n is the rotational speed and D is
the diameter of the propeller. Thus, for a constant RPM, propeller efficiency
depends on the forward velocity of the aircraft as shown in Figure 1.


Figure 1 Efficiency versus advance ratio for a fixed pitch propeller [2].

If the propeller is a fixed pitch propeller, for a constant RPM, there is only one
forward velocity where the efficiency reaches to a maximum. Consider the
drawing given in Figure 2 where the forward velocity, blade angle, angle of
attack, and rotational velocity relations are shown. If the blade angle is fixed,
hence the propeller is fixed pitch, angle of attack will decrease as the forward
velocity of aircraft increases. Although this will result in an efficiency increase
initially, further velocity increase will bring the angle of attack to zero, and the
propeller will not be able to generate thrust. In order to avoid this, variable pitch
Prof. Dr. Mustafa Cavcar, 2004. 2
or constant speed propellers are used. Figure 3 shows how the efficiency of a
variable pitch propeller varies with the advance ratio.


Figure 2 Propeller blade angle [3].

Figure 3 Efficiency of a variable pitch propeller [2].
Prof. Dr. Mustafa Cavcar, 2004. 3
For a variable pitch propeller, the device called propeller governor changes the
propeller pitch to a higher blade angle, as the forward velocity of the aircraft
increases. Therefore, maximum efficiency is obtained for a wide range of forward
velocities from take-off to cruise. In case of fixed pitch propellers, they are
designed to provide optimum efficiency for only one flight phase, either climb or
cruise, thus take-off performance is poor with the fixed pitch propellers.

References

[1] Jeppesen & Oxford Aviation Training, Flight Performance and Planning 1,
030 032 Performance, JAA Airline Transport Pilots License Theoretical
Knowledge Manual, Jeppesen, Frankfurt, 2001.

[2] McCormick, B.W., Aerodynamics Aeronautics and Flight Mechanics,
Wiley, New York, 1979.

[3] FAA, Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, FAA-H-8083-25,
U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration,
Washington D.C., 2003.