Preliminary design and performance analysis of eVTOL propellers using BEMT

Optimizing fixed-pitch propellers for a six-rotor aircraft poses a unique challenge, requiring a balance between high propulsive efficiency during cruise and maximum figure of merit during hover. A low-fidelity Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT) model was used to assess the performance of various propeller geometries. Design of Experiments (DOE) with Latin Hypercube Sampling generated 1,000 propeller designs by varying the twist angle while keeping the chord length fixed. The resulting database provides a robust foundation for refining the design through high-fidelity analysis, ensuring optimal performance across multiple flight conditions despite the fixed-pitch constraint.