Propeller

Topic 1:
Propeller Fundamentals
 INTRODUCTION
On completion of this topic you should be able to:

1 Describe blade element theory.

2 Describe the following and explain their effect on:

• Propeller thrust:
• High/low blade angle
• Reverse angle
• Angle of attack
• Rotational speed

3 Define the following in regards to propellers:

• Propeller slip
• Aerodynamic force
• Centrifugal force
• Thrust force
• Torque
• Relative airflow on blade angle of attack
• Vibration and resonance.
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 NOMENCLATURE
Axis of
Leading rotation
edge

Blade
Blade back
angle Plane of
rotation

Blade
Trailing
face
edge
(faces pilot)
Chord
line

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 NOMENCLATURE
Hub
assembly Shank

Hub Tip
bore
A Propeller is basically a rotating wing that combines lift and reaction
force (from moving air masses), to provide thrust.

The theories behind these two forces are know as:

• Blade Element Theory
• Momentum Theory.

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 BLADE ELEMENT THEORY
A propeller is a rotating airfoil and will create ‘lift’ just as a wing will

A ‘blade element’ is any randomly selected area on the blade airfoil

A ‘true pitch’ propeller is one that creates the same amount of lift at any one blade
element (via blade twist).
Such a design distributes lift forces evenly, despite differing angular velocities along
blade.
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 BLADE ELEMENT THEORY
(Blade Twist)

The outermost area of a propeller is travelling at higher velocity than the inner area

The angle of attack of each element will need to produce good lift along the blade as the
relative airflow velocity varies over the propeller blade length
Therefore a propeller blade is twisted to provide relatively constant lift for this variation.

The amount of blade twist is called ‘Pitch Distribution’

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 MOMENTUM THEORY
Momentum Theory relates to mass airflow

A propeller is a rotating airfoil that will

accelerate a large mass of air in a
rearward direction.

Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion states:

“for every action there is an equal and opposite
reaction”
A reaction to the rearward accelerated mass
airflow is a forward acting force.

This forward acting forces is termed ‘THRUST’

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 BLADE ANGLE
The propeller ‘chord line’ is an
imaginary line drawn through the
blade leading and trailing edges

The propeller ‘plane of rotation’ is

the actual path which the propeller
passes through

The propeller Blade Angle is the angle between the ‘chord line’ and the ‘plane of
rotation’

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 REVERSE BLADE ANGLE

Propellers which have the capability to allow the leading edge to pass behind the
‘plane of rotation’ into a ‘REVERSE BLADE ANGLE’ are referred to as ‘REVERSING
PROPELLERS’

This system creates ‘reverse thrust’ utilised on landing to reduce braking

application and landing roll.
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 FINE PITCH

A relatively small blade angle is referred to as:

• LOW blade angle
• LOW pitch or
• FINE PITCH

In variable pitch propellers ‘fine pitch’ is selected for takeoff

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 COARSE PITCH

A relatively large blade angle is referred to as

• HIGH blade angle
• HIGH Pitch
• COARSE pitch
In a variable pitch propeller Coarse Pitch would be selected for cruise
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 PITCH
The distance a propeller
advances in one revolution is
defined as the propeller
‘PITCH’

A propeller having a high

blade angle will advance
further in one revolution than
one with a lower blade angle

Therefore the propeller with

the higher blade angle is said
to have a greater ‘pitch’

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 PROPELLER SLIP
The distance a propeller would advance through a solid object, reflects it’s
‘Geometric Pitch’

Slip Effective Pitch

Geometric Pitch
As air has very little surface tension, the propeller does not advance the geometric distance

The actual distance the propeller advances in one revolution is known as the ‘EFFECTIVE
PITCH’
The difference between ‘geometric’ and ‘effective pitch’ is the ‘SLIP’
Revision 1 SLIP = Geometric Pitch - Effective Pitch
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 GEOMETRIC / EFFECTIVE PITCH

‘Geometric pitch’ on a fixed pitch prop will always remain the same
’Effective pitch’ will increase with a corresponding increase in aircraft speed
For example: an aircraft at max RPM with the brakes applied has zero ‘effective pitch’.
Therefore the SLIP equals the GEOMETRIC PITCH
As the aircraft picks up speed:
• ‘effective pitch’- increases and
• ‘slip’- decreases
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 CENTRIFUGAL TWISTING MOMENT
(CTM)

The centrifugal force on a propeller is quadrupled each time the RPM is doubled.
‘Centrifugal Twisting Moment’ (CTM) is an effect caused
as a direct result of centrifugal force
The CTM effect tends to ‘flatten out’ out the blades towards a
lower blade angle (fine pitch)

Centrifugal force including CTM is the greatest force affected upon a propeller
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 AERODYNAMIC TWISTING MOMENT
(ATM)
Due to the blades’ airfoil shape, the
centre of pressure acts upon the
blade forward of it’s rotational axis

This attempt to rotate the blade

around it’s axis to a higher blade
angle

‘Aerodynamic Twisting Moment’ or

‘ATM’ is an effect which tends to send
the propeller blades into a coarse pitch
position.

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 THRUST BENDING FORCE
Propeller blades become thinner
in cross section towards the tips,
this area is more inclined to
experience a ‘bending effect’

The generated ‘thrust’ affected

on the face of the propeller
tends to bend the outer
extremities forward of the
propeller’s plane of rotation

This effect is known as the:

‘THRUST BENDING FORCE’

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 TORQUE BENDING FORCE
As the propeller blades become smaller in cross
sectional area towards the tips, this area is more
inclined to experience a ‘bending effect’

The torque felt at the hub and the air resistance to

the rotation of the propeller acts on the outer
extremities of the propeller blades - opposite to the
direction of rotation
This effect is known as the:
‘TORQUE BENDING FORCE’
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 SLIPSTEAM AND
GYROSCOPIC
Torque effect. A
EFFECT
propeller driven aircraft will tend to
rotate in the opposite direction to
propeller rotation (DOR) in line with
Newton’s Third Law of Motion.

Slipstream effect The

rotating propeller “slipstream” will
have an impact effect upon the
vertical tail and tend to cause “yaw”
or side slip.

Gyroscopic effect. This is

the tendency of the propeller to resist any
change in its plane of rotation. This slight
force is felt when the aircraft changes
direction.

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 BLADE VIBRATION / RESONANCE
When a propeller is producing
thrust, vibration occurs due to
aerodynamic and mechanical
forces.

Resonance will occur if

propeller vibration frequency
approaches the blades natural
frequency.

Critical range of
vibration/resonance is
dependant on RPM.

Vibration causes flexing and work hardening of propeller blade which can result
in failure of blade near the tip.

Approximately 6 inches from blade tip is most susceptible especially if the stress is
concentrated at a nick (stress raiser) in the blade.
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 ANGLE OF ATTACK
The ‘angle of relative airflow’
is the actual path which the
on coming airflow strikes the
propeller

The ‘angle of relative airflow’

will vary with forward
aircraft speed and rotational
speed

The propeller ‘ANGLE of ATTACK’ is the angle between the ‘chord line’
and the ‘angle of relative airflow’
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 RELATIVE WIND

With no forward motion blade angle and angle of attack are the same

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FACTORS AFFECTING ANGLE of ATTACK

The two factors which will have

considerable effect upon the
‘angle of attack’ are:

FORWARD AIRSPEED

&
RPM

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 REVOLUTION PER MINUTE (RPM)
When the ‘chord’ of the
propeller and the airspeed
remain the same:
An increase in ‘RPM’ will
increase the angle of attack”

This may be easily represented by

plotting a vector as illustrated

The red angle is the original

‘angle of attack’

The pink angle is the resultant

‘angle of attack’ after an increase
in ‘RPM’

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 FORWARD AIRSPEED
When the ‘chord’ of the
propeller and the ‘RPM’ remain
the same:
An increase in forward airspeed
will decrease the angle of attack”

This may be easily represented

by plotting a vector as illustrated

The red angle is the original

‘angle of attack’

The pink angle is the resultant

‘angle of attack’ after an increase
in forward airspeed

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 CONCLUSION
Now that you have completed this topic, you should be
able to:
1 Describe blade element theory.

2 Describe the following and explain their effect on:

• Propeller thrust:
• High/low blade angle
• Reverse angle
• Angle of attack
• Rotational speed

3 Define the following in regards to propellers:

• Propeller slip
• Aerodynamic force
• Centrifugal force
• Thrust force
• Torque
• Relative airflow on blade angle of attack
• Vibration and resonance.
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You have now concluded Topic 1:
Propeller Fundamentals

Your next topic is Topic 2:

Propeller Construction