Experimental Study of the Aerodynamic Interaction between Side-by-Side Propellers in eVTOL Airplane Mode through Stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry

Side-by-side propellers characterise the architecture of most new electric aircraft (eVTOLs) designed in recent years for urban air mobility. The aerodynamic interaction between side-by-side propellers represents one of the key phenomena that characterise the flow field and performance of these novel aircraft configurations. The present article describes the main results of a wind tunnel campaign that aimed to investigate the flow features that characterise this aerodynamic interaction, with a particular application to cruise flight conditions in eVTOLs. With this aim, stereo particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements were performed in the wake of two co-rotating propeller models in a side-by-side configuration. The three-dimensional flow surveys provided detailed insights into the flow physics of the interacting propellers, with a particular focus on the interactional effects on the trajectory of the tip vortices and the wake topology provided at two different advance ratios by reproducing a moderate and a fast cruise speed of eVTOLs in urban areas.