Systematic Investigation of a Fixed-Pitch Small-Scale Propeller under Non-Axial Inflow Conditions

Small-scalefixed-pitch propellers especially on multicopter configurations experience higher angles of attack than on usual aircraft configurations. In order to improve their aerodynamic efficiency, a better understanding of the occurringflow-fields under such non-axial inflow conditions is required. Therefore, an isolated small-scale propeller is operated at a range of inflow angles from zero to 180 degrees. Experimental data obtained by measurements of forces as well as a particle image velocimetry (PIV) are compared to numerical results generated by methods of different fidelity.