Flutter analysis of propfan-open rotors

This work aims at showing the importance of flutter predictions in the preliminary design of propfan–open rotors. Both single rotating propellers and contrarotating open rotors are investigated. The related structural subsystems are modeled through finite element analyses; the aerodynamic subsystems exploit a finite volume, full potential formulation suitable for unsteady transonic flows. An ad hoc technique is developed for simulating the flowfield around a contrarotating open rotor configuration. The effectiveness of the proposed aeroelastic analysis is successfully assessed for single propellers through comparisons with reference numerical and experimental data available in the literature, as well as against Euler flow-based solutions. The results for contrarotating open rotors cannot be validated because of the lack of corresponding open-literature data.