Student: Rachel Pick, Undergraduate Student in Aerospace Engineering, Iowa State University
Research Mentor: Anupam Sharma
Bio-Inspired Blade Designs to Reduce Propeller Noise
The owl has long been known to have one of the most silent flights of any bird. There are three main attributes that are thought to lend themselves to this phenomenon. The one investigated in this research project is the presence of leading edge comb serrations. Experiments are being conducted using 3-D printed propeller blades. Currently, these blades are being redesigned to allow for easier serration printing and attachment to the leading edge. After the blade redesign is complete, testing will be conducted in the anechoic chamber at Iowa State University. In addition to the propeller redesign, new microphones are being used to ensure accurate data collection. A converter box is being built for the new microphones in order to allow them to interface with our data acquisition system. Also, a traversing rig for the microphones is being built in order to collect sound data from multiple positions and to increase experiment repeatability.