Effect of the number of blades on propeller wake evolution

The effect of the number of blades on wake evolution was investigated on three propellers having the same blade geometry but different numbers of blades. The experiments concerned velocity measurements along nine transversal planes of the wake by LDV phase-sampling techniques. The study was performed with all the propellers having the same tip vortex intensity. In addition, high-speed visualizations were carried out to analyze the main features of propeller wake evolution in the transition and in the far wake. Aspects concerning wake evolution were pointed out, with particular emphasis on the instability mechanism of the propeller slipstream and on its correlation with the blade-to-blade interaction phenomenon.