Propeller (aeronautics)

The propellers of a C-130J Super Hercules military transport aircraft
A decorated Japanese taketombo bamboo-copter
Leonardo's aerial screw
Prototype created by Mikhail Lomonosov, 1754
A 6-bladed Hamilton Standard 568F propeller on an ATR 72 short-haul airliner
A sailor checks the propeller of a Landing Craft Air Cushion hovercraft
Cut-away view of a Hamilton Standard propeller. This type of constant-speed propeller was used on many American fighters, bombers and transport aircraft of World War II
Feathered propeller on the outboard TP400 turboprop of an Airbus A400M
Counter-rotating propellers

Airscrew, converts rotary motion from an engine or other power source into a swirling slipstream which pushes the propeller forwards or backwards.

- Propeller (aeronautics)
The propellers of a C-130J Super Hercules military transport aircraft

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The propeller speed reduction unit of a Rolls-Royce R engine

Propeller speed reduction unit

Gearbox or a belt and pulley device used to reduce the output revolutions per minute from the higher input rpm of the powerplant.

Gearbox or a belt and pulley device used to reduce the output revolutions per minute from the higher input rpm of the powerplant.

The propeller speed reduction unit of a Rolls-Royce R engine
Simple spur gear reduction

This allows the use of small displacement internal combustion engines to turn aircraft propellers within an efficient speed range.

The Cessna 172, a tractor configuration aircraft, and the most popular airplane ever produced

Tractor configuration

The Cessna 172, a tractor configuration aircraft, and the most popular airplane ever produced
A Britten-Norman Trislander aircraft (with an unusual 3rd tractor engine on the tail) at Guernsey Airport, Channel Islands
The Royal Aircraft Factory FE2 is an example of a pusher configuration

In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air.

A propeller blade in feathered position

Blade pitch

Blade pitch or simply pitch refers to the angle of a blade in a fluid.

Blade pitch or simply pitch refers to the angle of a blade in a fluid.

A propeller blade in feathered position
Decommissioned wind turbines of the Kama'oa Wind Farm in Ka Lae/South Point, Hawaii awaiting removal, with rotors stopped and blades feathered.

In aeronautics, blade pitch refers to the angle of the blades of an aircraft propeller or helicopter rotor.

Examples of airfoils in nature and in or on various vehicles. The dolphin flipper at bottom left obeys the same principles in a different fluid medium; it is an example of a hydrofoil.

Airfoil

Examples of airfoils in nature and in or on various vehicles. The dolphin flipper at bottom left obeys the same principles in a different fluid medium; it is an example of a hydrofoil.
Streamlines around a NACA 0012 airfoil at moderate angle of attack
Lift and drag curves for a typical airfoil
Airfoil nomenclature
Different definitions of airfoil thickness
An airfoil designed for winglets (PSU 90-125WL)
An airfoil section is displayed at the tip of this Denney Kitfox aircraft, built in 1991.
Airfoil of a Kamov Ka-26 helicopter's lower rotor blade

An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbine.

A Pratt & Whitney F100 jet engine being tested. This engine produces a jet of gas to generate thrust. Its purpose is to propel a jet airplane. This particular model turbofan engine powers McDonnell Douglas F-15 and General Dynamics F-16 fighters both.

Thrust

Reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law.

Reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law.

A Pratt & Whitney F100 jet engine being tested. This engine produces a jet of gas to generate thrust. Its purpose is to propel a jet airplane. This particular model turbofan engine powers McDonnell Douglas F-15 and General Dynamics F-16 fighters both.

This can be done by different means such as the spinning blades of a propeller, the propelling jet of a jet engine, or by ejecting hot gases from a rocket engine.

A swept wing KC-10 Extender (top) refuels a trapezoidal-wing F-22 Raptor.

Wing

Type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid.

Type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid.

A swept wing KC-10 Extender (top) refuels a trapezoidal-wing F-22 Raptor.
A white stork flying by flapping its wings.
Condensation in the low pressure region over the wing of an Airbus A340, passing through humid air
Flaps (green) are used in various configurations to increase the wing area and to increase the lift. In conjunction with spoilers (red), flaps maximize drag and minimize lift during the landing roll.
The wing of a landing BMI Airbus A319-100. The slats at its leading edge and the flaps at its trailing edge are extended.
Winged tree seeds that cause autorotation in descent
A laughing gull, exhibiting the "gull wing" outline
Bat in flight

An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the shape of a wing, blade (of a propeller, rotor, or turbine), or sail (as seen in cross-section).

One of a C-130J Super Hercules's six-bladed Dowty Rotol R391 composite controllable- and reversible-pitch propellers.

Variable-pitch propeller (aeronautics)

One of a C-130J Super Hercules's six-bladed Dowty Rotol R391 composite controllable- and reversible-pitch propellers.
A hydraulic constant-speed propeller on a Rotax 912S engine in a Dyn'Aéro MCR01 Microlight aircraft.
Cutaway constant-speed propeller hub
Pitch-change forces on a constant speed propeller.
Propeller governor PCU5000, made by Jihostroj a.s. company, fitted to an American Champion aircraft
A Hamilton Standard variable-pitch propeller on a 1943 model Stinson V77 Reliant

In aeronautics, a variable-pitch propeller is a type of propeller (airscrew) with blades that can be rotated around their long axis to change the blade pitch.

GE T64 turboprop, with the propeller on the left, the gearbox with accessories in the middle, and the gas generator (turbine) on the right

Turboprop

GE T64 turboprop, with the propeller on the left, the gearbox with accessories in the middle, and the gas generator (turbine) on the right
Schematic diagram showing the operation of a turboprop engine
Propulsive efficiency comparison for various gas turbine engine configurations
A Rolls-Royce RB.50 Trent on a test rig at Hucknall, in March 1945
The Kuznetsov NK-12 is still the most powerful turboprop
A military transport aircraft, over 2,500 Lockheed C-130 Hercules have been built
The Beech King Air and Super King Air are the most-delivered turboprop business aircraft, with a combined 7,300 examples as of May 2018

A turboprop engine is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller.

Contra-rotating propellers

Contra-rotating propellers

Contra-rotating propellers
Contra-rotating propellers on the Rolls-Royce Griffon-powered P-51XR Mustang Precious Metal at the 2014 Reno Air Races
Contra-rotating propellers of a Spitfire Mk XIX
One of the four contra-rotating propellers on a Tu-95 Russian strategic bomber
XB-35 Flying Wing showing its quartet of pusher contra-rotating propellers. The option was later discarded due to severe vibration in flight and later changed to traditional single rotating propellers.
Douglas XB-42 Mixmaster
General Motors P-75 Eagle

Aircraft equipped with contra-rotating propellers, also referred to as CRP, coaxial contra-rotating propellers, or high-speed propellers, apply the maximum power of usually a single piston or turboprop engine to drive a pair of coaxial propellers in contra-rotation.

A black carbon fibre (used as a reinforcement component) compared to a human hair

Composite material

Material which is produced from two or more constituent materials.

Material which is produced from two or more constituent materials.

A black carbon fibre (used as a reinforcement component) compared to a human hair
Composites are formed by combining materials together to form an overall structure with properties that differ from that of the individual components
Concrete is a mixture of adhesive and aggregate, giving a robust, strong material that is very widely used.
Plywood is used widely in construction
Composite sandwich structure panel used for testing at NASA
Carbon fibre composite part.
Plot of the overall strength of a composite material as a function of fiber volume fraction limited by the upper bound (isostrain) and lower bound (isostress) conditions.
Figure a) shows the isostress condition where the composite materials are perpendicular to the applied force and b) is the isostrain condition that has the layers parallel to the force.
The graph depicts the three fracture modes a composite material may experience depending on the angle of misorientation relative to aligning fibres parallel to the applied stress.

Fibre-reinforced composite materials have gained popularity (despite their generally high cost) in high-performance products that need to be lightweight, yet strong enough to take harsh loading conditions such as aerospace components (tails, wings, fuselages, propellers), boat and scull hulls, bicycle frames and racing car bodies.