This research examines how propeller performance changes once a rotor operates in a real aircraft configuration rather than in isolation. Ground and ceiling proximity, nearby wings and rotors, pitch changes, and flight attitude all reshape the inflow and wake, often in ways that strongly affect efficiency and controllability. Across these studies, wake interaction is treated not as a secondary effect, but as a central design variable in distributed propulsion systems.
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This research takes tandem-propeller interaction out of the wind tunnel and into a flight-capable multirotor platform. The work validates whether the efficiency trends observed in controlled laboratory studies remain visible once the configuration is exposed to real vehicle operation, onboard power systems, flight controls, and the disturbances of practical flight. In that sense, it serves as the bridge between aerodynamic insight and vehicle-level evidence.
Open SubcategoryThis research examines how a propeller changes once it begins operating near real surfaces rather than in open air. Ground proximity, ceiling proximity, partial surfaces, and forward flight all reshape the inflow and wake, which in turn changes thrust, power required, and overall efficiency. The work moves from classic hover-like ground effect into more realistic installed conditions, including finite plates, annular boundaries, and edgewise flight, showing that surface interaction is not a simple correction to isolated-propeller behavior but a governing part of the aerodynamics.
Open SubcategoryThis research investigates what happens when two propellers operate in tandem with partial overlap, vertical offset, and varying streamwise spacing. Rather than behaving like two isolated rotors placed side by side in a layout drawing, the pair functions as a coupled aerodynamic system in which the front propeller alters the inflow, wake angle, and loading seen by the rear propeller. The studies trace how that interaction changes across edgewise and forward-flight conditions, and how stagger direction, spacing, and overlap reshape the performance of the full system.
Open SubcategoryThis research studies variable collective pitch propellers as active aerodynamic devices rather than fixed-thrust components. The work examines how blade pitch, incidence angle, and flight speed combine to shape thrust, power, and moment generation in forward flight and near-edgewise flight. Across the studies, variable pitch emerges as a way to adapt propeller behavior to changing operating conditions, especially when the rotor is no longer aligned with a simple axial inflow.
Open SubcategoryThis research explores propulsion systems in which the propeller and wing must be understood as one aerodynamic unit. Embedding or partially embedding a propeller within a wing changes lift, drag, forward thrust, wake deflection, and control response in ways that cannot be inferred reliably from isolated wing and isolated propeller data alone. The work spans thrust-vectoring concepts with downstream vanes, inlet and opening geometry effects, propeller incidence effects in forward flight, and broader questions about when simple performance superposition is valid.
Open SubcategoryStudents connected to the publications and projects represented on this page.
Publication entries include citation details and student contributors where available.