8. Propeller Deformation Study on an P 180 Push Propeller Aircraft

Within AIM one of the most challenging tasks was to measure the propeller blade deformation with QVT (Quantitative Video Technique) and IPCT (Image Pattern Correlation Technique) in flight. Beside this measurement task, it should be tried to assess the installed propeller performance. The idea was to relate the deformation to the thrust provided by the blade. First the load distribution on the blade was determined by means of CFD and in the following a representative load was applied to the blade during a static test in order to validate the FEM model of the blade which was then used to relate the deformation to the thrust. One further step was also planned consisting of the assessment of the possibility to investigate the effects of the exhaust impinging the blade in terms of performance loss. Due to some difficulties with the triggering system during the flight test it was not possible to compare the simulation and ground test results with the flight test results. Nevertheless a valuable work has been done to perform a preliminary evaluation of the in-flight propeller blade deformation, simulate the load on the blades and to develop and validate a finite element model suitable for the test.