Aerodynamic performance of an over-the-wing propeller configuration at increasing Mach number

Abstract Over-the-wing propeller configurations and particularly channel wing concepts show increased climb performance, and through effective acoustic shielding, reduced noise emissions when compared to a conventional tractor configuration. The main aerodynamic mechanisms could be identified by steady flow simulations of a simplified wing geometry and actuator disk. At take-off, where the thrust coefficient is very high, the drag of the wing decreases much stronger than the thrust of the propeller. This paper investigates the cruise conditions where the thrust coefficient is by one order of magnitude lower. The numerical results give evidence that, even at a moderate flight Mach number of 0.6, the beneficial influence of the over-the-wing propeller on the drag coefficient of the wing is negligibly small. On the other hand, the amount of propeller efficiency that is lost through high inflow velocity above the wing increases with Ma due to compressibility effects. As a result, the propulsive efficiency of an over-the-wing configuration is 16 % smaller than the reference (tractor). Semi-empirical correlations show that even at very low Mach numbers a drawback of at least 5 % remains. Although repositioning the propeller at the wing trailing edge may recover 4 % of the propulsive efficiency at Ma = 0.6, it is not advisable to give up most of the noise-shielding effect at take-off which is an important advantage of the channel wing.