P180 propeller deformation study

Abstract

QVT (Quantitative Video Technique) and IPCT (Image Pattern Correlation Technique) have been used in a demanding situation such as the measurement of a deformation of a fast revolving propeller blade. In order to be able to perform such a measurement some problem needed to be solved those are: where to put the camera(s), how illuminate the blade and how to trigger the camera and consequently the illumination device. The blade deformation measurement by itself was already a good target, but in order to give more value to such an activity an attempt to evaluate the installed propeller performance has been done. The idea was to relate the deformation with the thrust provided by the blade. So the load distribution on the blade was evaluated by means of CFD and hence a representative load was applied to the blade during a static test in order to validate the FEM model of the blade which was then used to relate the deformation with the thrust. One more step forward was also planned consisting in the evaluation of the possibility to investigate the effects of the exhaust investing the blade in terms of performance lost.