UIUC Propeller DatabaseUIUC Propeller Data Site

John B. Brandt, Robert W. Deters, Gavin K. Ananda, Or D. Dantsker, and Michael S. Selig

This webpage includes wind tunnel measurements for propellers used on small UAVs and model aircraft.

The propeller database includes three volumes:

Basic Relations

The UIUC data use the standard definitions for propeller aerodynamic coefficients:

Further, for the static performance data plots (C_T0, C_P0), the Reynolds number reported there (x-axis) is based on these quantities at the 75% blade station: propeller blade chord (c_75%) and rotational velocity (V_75% = 0.75 Ω R).

For more information, a useful reference is:

McCormick, B.W., "Aerodynamics, Aeronautics, and Flight Mechanics," Wiley, Second Edition, 1995.

APC Propeller Geometry

Many of the propellers tested are APC brand propellers. The geometry information direct from APC is here: https://www.apcprop.com/technical-information/file-downloads/. The file to obtain is: PE0-FILES_WEB-202206.zipx (or latest). After unzipping, the files have the extension: ".peo". It is a text file. Changing the extension to ".txt" allows for the files to be easily opened in any text editor. MSS 6/27/2022

UIUC and Ohio State University Experimental Measurements - Comparison

The figures below show a comparison between UIUC Volume 1 (V3) data and measurements taken at Ohio State (Ref 6). The results show good agreement, especially considering that the thrust and torque measurement techniques differ. For the UIUC data, the thrust is measured directly with a load cell attached to a pivot arm. The torque is measured through a torque cell attached to the fixture that holds the motor. For the OSU data, the measurements were taken using a multi-axis load cell attached directly to the motor (Ref 8).

APC 10x5E and 10x7E "thin electric" propellers.

Additional formats: .eps, .fig, and .pdf

Credits: Graphics provided by Matthew McCrink and James Gregory, Ohio State University, June 2015.

Citation for Webpage

The recommended way to cite this webpage in a publication is:

References

  1. Dantsker, O.D., Caccamo, C., Deters, R.W., and Selig, M.S., "Performance Testing of APC Electric Fixed-Blade UAV Propellers," AIAA Aviation and Aeronautics Forum and Exposition (Aviation 2022), AIAA Paper 2022-4020, Chicago, IL, June 2022.
  2. Dantsker, O.D., Caccamo, C., Deters, R.W., and Selig, M.S., "Performance Testing of Aero-Naut CAM Folding Propellers," AIAA Aviation and Aeronautics Forum and Exposition (Aviation 2020), AIAA Paper 2020-2760, Virtual Event, June 2020.
  3. McCrink, M.H. and Gregory, J.W., "Blade Element Momentum Modeling for Low-Re Small UAS Electric Propulsion Systems," AIAA Aviation and Aeronautics Forum and Exposition (Aviation 2015), AIAA Paper 2015-3296, Dallas, TX, June 2015 | https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/6.2015-3296 | Also see https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/1.C033622, 2016.
  4. Gregory, J.W., private communications, June 2015.
  5. Deters, R.W., "Performance and Slipstream Characteristic of Small-Scale Propellers at Low Reynolds Numbers," Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 2014.
  6. Deters, R.W., Ananda, G.K., and Selig, M.S., "Reynolds Number Effects on the Performance of Small-Scale Propellers," AIAA Aviation and Aeronautics Forum and Exposition (Aviation 2014), AIAA Paper 2014-2151, Atlanta, GA, June 2014.
  7. Brandt, J.B. and Selig, M.S., "Propeller Performance Data at Low Reynolds Numbers," 49th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, AIAA Paper 2011-1255, Orlando, FL, January 2011.
  8. Brandt, J. B., "Small-Scale Propeller Performance at Low Speeds," M.S. Thesis, Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, 2005.

Download Archive

Download the entire propeller database: UIUC-propDB.zip (md5sum: a41e484f1fd0fb6ff80b76e27410808b)

Release Notes