An Empirical Study of Overlapping Rotor Interference for a Small Unmanned Aircraft Propulsion System

The majority of research into full-sized helicopter overlapping propulsion systems involves co-axial setups (fully overlapped). Partially overlapping rotor setups (tandem, multirotor) have received less attention, and empirical data produced over the years is limited. The increase in demand for compact small unmanned aircraft has exposed the need for empirical investigations of overlapping propulsion systems at a small scale (Reynolds Number < 250,000). Rotor-to-rotor interference at the static state in various overlapping propulsion system configurations was empirically measured using off the shelf T-Motor 16 inch × 5.4 inch rotors. A purpose-built test rig was manufactured allowing various overlapping rotor configurations to be tested. First, single rotor data was gathered, then performance measurements were taken at different thrust and tip speeds on a range of overlap configurations. The studies were conducted in a system torque balance mode. Overlapping rotor performance was compared to an isolated dual rotor propulsion system revealing interference factors which were compared to the momentum theory. Tests revealed that in the co-axial torque-balanced propulsion system the upper rotor outperforms the lower rotor at axial separation ratios between 0.05 and 0.85. Additionally, in the same region, thrust sharing between the two rotors changed by 21%; the upper rotor produced more thrust than the lower rotor at all times. Peak performance was recorded as a 22% efficiency loss when the axial separation ratio was greater than 0.25. The performance of a co-axial torque-balanced system reached a 27% efficiency loss when the axial separation ratio was equal to 0.05. The co-axial system swirl recovery effect was recorded to have a 4% efficiency gain in the axial separation ratio region between 0.05 and 0.85. The smallest efficiency loss (3%) was recorded when the rotor separation ratio was between 0.95 and 1 (axial separation ratio was kept at 0.05). Tests conducted at a rotor separation ratio of 0.85 showed that the efficiency loss decreased when the axial separation ratio was greater than 0.25. The lower rotor outperformed the upper rotor in the rotor separation ratio region from 0.95 to 1 (axial separation ratio was kept at 0.05) at an overall system thrust of 8 N, and matched the upper rotor performance at the tested overall thrust of 15 N.