Tandem Air Propellers

Tests of 2-blade, adjustable-pitch, counterrotating tandem model propellers, adjusted to absorb equal power at maximum efficiency, were made at Stanford University. The characteristics, for 15 degrees, 25 degrees, 35 degrees, and 45 degrees pitch settings at 0.75 R of the forward propeller and for 8 1/2%, 15% and 30% diameter spacings, were compared with those of 2-blade and 4-blade propellers of the same blade form. The tests showed that the efficiency of the tandem propellers was from 0.5% to 4% greater than that of a 4-blade propeller and, at the high pitch settings, not appreciable inferior to that of a 2-blade propeller. It was found that the rear tandem propeller should be set at a pitch angle slightly less than that of the forward propeller to realize the condition of equal power at maximum efficiency. Under this condition the total power absorbed by the tandem propellers was from 3% to 9% more than that absorbed by the 4-blade propeller and about twice that absorbed by a 2-blade propeller.