An Optimization of Swirl Recovery Vane for Fokker 29 Propeller Using Design of Experiment Method

Abstract

Compared with the single propeller, a propeller with Swirl Recovery Vanes (SRV) has great advantages in recovering the residual swirl, which leads to an improvement both in thrust and propulsion efficiency. Based on the preliminary design of the SRV for Fokker F29 propeller, Design of Experiment (DoE) method was employed to optimize and further improve the performance of SRV in the present study. Firstly, orthogonal experiment was adopted to identify the most significant factors for affecting thrust. Secondly, steepest ascent method was used to search for the optimum range of target factors by using climbing experiment and factorial experiment. Finally, center composite experiment was adopted to find the optimal solution. As a result, the thrust of the optimized SRV has increased significantly by 11.78% at the design point, which leads to a 0.66% increment of total efficiency of propeller and SRV propulsion system, and even more increment at low rotation speed (2.10%). Besides, compared with the original SRV, the optimized SRV geometry improves the flow characteristics at the tip region of the vane. The tip vortex and swirl kinetic energy have been weakened distinctly, and the thrust coefficient distribution along the spanwise tends to be more uniform.