I Believe I Can Fly

Overview

Objectives/Goals The objective of my project was to determine which propeller pitch produced the most thrust in a static setting, and I believed that the steepest pitch would produce the most thrust. Methods/Materials Five propellers of identical brand and length, were obtained. The propellers were identical except for the pitch which varied sequentially from four to eight inch pitch. Each propeller was attached to an electric motor and the thrust was measured. This process was repeated four times for each propeller, and the results were averaged. Due to the low thrust output of the propeller, and the limited sensitivity of the scale, a test apparatus was designed to leverage up the thrust and counterbalance the weight of the motor. Results The propeller with the five inch pitch produced the most thrust by a large margin, while the propeller with the eight inch pitch had the lowest thrust. Conclusions/Discussion Propeller pitch has a great impact on thrust, and the largest pitch does not necessarily produce the most thrust. My research indicated that thrust from a propeller of a given pitch will vary with the speed of the surrounding air. Therefore, the pitch that produced the most thrust in this static test would not necessarily produce the most thrust on a moving airplane.

Competition history

• CSEF 2006 Aerodynamics/ Hydrodynamics · Entry J0105

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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