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Publication:

Parametric Study of Aft Rotor Optimization in Stacked Propeller Systems for Urban Air Mobility

dc.contributor.advisorMartinelli, Luigi
dc.contributor.authorAhmad, Fawaz
dc.date.accessioned2025-08-14T13:25:28Z
dc.date.available2025-08-14T13:25:28Z
dc.date.issued2025-04-23
dc.description.abstractAs Urban Air Mobility (UAM) vehicles become a key area of interest for sustainable and efficient short-range transportation, there is a growing need to optimize propulsion systems for performance. Counter-rotating stacked propellers present a promising alternative to traditional single-rotor systems, offering potential benefits in thrust generation, efficiency, and swirl minimization. This thesis explores the aerodynamic performance of these stacked systems, with a focus on how aft rotor parameters—axial spacing, radius, RPM, and blade count— influence overall system performance. Using CROTOR, a range of configurations were analyzed and compared to baseline single-rotor setup. The results demonstrate that tailoring the aft rotor radius and RPM in response to the axial velocity distribution can improve normalized thrust by up to ≈3.5%. Furthermore, lower aft blade counts were found to achieve higher efficiency. These findings contribute empirical insight into stacked rotor dynamics and provide a foundation for deriving sizing heuristics that can streamline design of optimal eVTOL propulsion systems.
dc.identifier.urihttps://theses-dissertations.princeton.edu/handle/88435/dsp017s75dg84x
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.titleParametric Study of Aft Rotor Optimization in Stacked Propeller Systems for Urban Air Mobility
dc.typePrinceton University Senior Theses
dspace.entity.typePublication
dspace.workflow.startDateTime2025-04-24T00:18:39.325Z
pu.contributor.authorid920276267
pu.date.classyear2025
pu.departmentMechanical & Aerospace Engr

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