Design and optimization of a variable diameter propeller

The variable diameter propeller is a new concept propeller that can enlarge the scope of many aircraft's working conditions. This paper first proposes a general layout of the variable diameter propeller, and it is simplified to carry out the stress analysis of each part. Then, a flexible multi-body dynamic model is built on basis of the technology of virtual prototyping. On this basis, a single-objective and multi-constraints optimization is established to obtain the satisfied coordinates of each design point. Finally, Comparison of weight between original scheme and optimized scheme is presented, the reduced weight shows the rationality of the structural design, which also provides a reliable model for possibilities of further study.