Experimental Characterisation of Low Reynolds Number Propeller Performance from Erosion on a Triangular Aerofoil

Experimental Characterisation of Low Reynolds Number Propeller Performance from Erosion on a Triangular Aerofoil | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Experimental Characterisation of Low Reynolds Number Propeller Performance from Erosion on a Triangular Aerofoil Harry Liuhan, Toby Bryce-Smith This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7875205/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Erosion to aerofoils significantly affects performance in high Reynolds number applications (Re > 10 5 ), but erosion effects on aerofoils for low Reynolds number applications, such as micro-air-vehicle propellers, are unknown. This paper aims to determine the effects of erosion on drone propeller performance between 2-4×10 4 Reynolds numbers. A propeller with a triangular aerofoil was 4 used as the baseline, and 8 erosion modes were tested to assess the sensitivity of performance changes to location, erosion magnitude, and Reynolds effects. Results show that leading-edge erosion is largely detrimental to propeller efficiency, implying that erosion can significantly impact the endurance of aerial vehicles. This study concluded that erosion location and erosion level both have a significant effect on propeller performance. Improvements and degradations to performance also depended on the testing Reynolds number, showing the importance of considering all stages of the mission profile on propeller design, vital information for micro-air and unmanned aerial vehicles. Aeronautics and Astronautics Experimental Aerodynamics Propeller Aerofoil Erosion Low Reynolds Number UAV/MAV Drone Propulsion Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7875205","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":530498836,"identity":"bf261463-0280-4ff7-932b-0ff1a34bb551","order_by":0,"name":"Harry Liuhan","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7286-0669","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Harry","middleName":"","lastName":"Liuhan","suffix":""},{"id":530498837,"identity":"8e040b53-36de-4e43-bdbe-4488f1fa922b","order_by":1,"name":"Toby Bryce-Smith","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAtUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACHgZmBgYbkjSAtaQBmcykaTlMghZ79t5j0gV/zueZt/cffFzAsE2OsC0859KkZ7bdLpY5c5jZeAbDbWPCWiRyzKR5G24nzpBIZpPmYbid2ECUFp4/5+Ba6onUwnYAriWBsMPOnEu2ntmWXCzBc9jYmMfgtiFBW9jbew/eLvhjlyfB3vjwMU/FbXmCtgABiwSQgLrHgBgNwCj8gNAyCkbBKBgFowALAAD8ODQDJ9yEMAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2880-3890","institution":"Imperial College London","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Toby","middleName":"","lastName":"Bryce-Smith","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-10-16 08:32:09","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7875205/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7875205/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":93727251,"identity":"8e3188b9-efa5-4f61-90de-c91be6d426ee","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-17 02:07:22","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":844180,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript298.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7875205/v1_covered_9fa208aa-a806-40ab-99b4-cb40eb245174.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eExperimental Characterisation of Low Reynolds Number Propeller Performance from Erosion on a Triangular Aerofoil\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Independent","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Experimental Aerodynamics, Propeller, Aerofoil Erosion, Low Reynolds Number, UAV/MAV, Drone Propulsion","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7875205/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7875205/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eErosion to aerofoils significantly affects performance in high Reynolds number applications (Re \u0026gt; 10\u003csup\u003e5 \u003c/sup\u003e), but erosion effects on aerofoils for low Reynolds number applications, such as micro-air-vehicle propellers, are unknown. This paper aims to determine the effects of erosion on drone propeller performance between 2-4×10\u003csup\u003e4\u003c/sup\u003e Reynolds numbers. A propeller with a triangular aerofoil was 4 used as the baseline, and 8 erosion modes were tested to assess the sensitivity of performance changes to location, erosion magnitude, and Reynolds effects. Results show that leading-edge erosion is largely detrimental to propeller efficiency, implying that erosion can significantly impact the endurance of aerial vehicles. This study concluded that erosion location and erosion level both have a significant effect on propeller performance. Improvements and degradations to performance also depended on the testing Reynolds number, showing the importance of considering all stages of the mission profile on propeller design, vital information for micro-air and unmanned aerial vehicles.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Experimental Characterisation of Low Reynolds Number Propeller Performance from Erosion on a Triangular Aerofoil","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-17 01:59:12","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7875205/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"b5da7baa-87f6-4fd8-877b-e99a492b88bd","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 17th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":56396511,"name":"Aeronautics and Astronautics"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-10-17T01:59:12+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-17 01:59:12","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7875205","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7875205","identity":"rs-7875205","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}