Experimental and Numerical Considerations for the Motor-Propeller Assembly’s Air Flow Field over a Quadcopter’s Arm

The aim of the paper is to validate the analytical–numerical analysis method regarding the operating regime of the propellers of a quadcopter. The research aims to mark the flow areas whose numerical results differ from the experimental ones and to investigate the possible reasons for the discrepancies between the values. The paper presents the determination of the air velocity produced by the rotational movement of a quadcopter propeller for a stationary position of the drive motor. The velocities were determined both experimentally at various points located below the propeller plane using hot-wire anemometric probes and numerically using a time-lapse simulation with a rotating sliding table. The numerical simulations carried out consisted of the determination of the time variation of the velocity distribution developed by the propeller in the rotational movement for the different operating (power) cycles of the engine. In addition, a technique that utilizes reverse engineering to determine the propeller profile, the anemometric probe calibration, and the average velocity values measured at various points below the propeller plane for engine operating regimes that range from 60 to 90% are also presented.