Current Work

Research will continue to be conducted aiming to find the optimum sweep configuration for different blade configurations.  More mesh refinement, as well as further study about discretization and interpolation schemes will be done in an attempt to find the appropriate CFD setup.  At the same time, propeller manufacturing will also be pursued for wind tunnel testing in order to verify the CFD results. To further verify the reliability of the current CFD setup, backward swept propellers will be simulated and the results will be compared to those of the straight blade. 

Another paper is currently being written which will identify the 3D effects of forward swept blades that improve efficiency and stall margin. 

Future Work

Wind tunnel tests and CFD simulations with swept blades of a diameter closer to those used on full-size aircraft will be done to determine the effect of scaling (outside funding needed).