16 questions linked to/from How does a fan differ from a propeller?
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### Why do turbofan blade tips exceed the speed of sound while prop tips should not?

It seems that the tips of the fan of a turbofan engine can and do break the sound barrier: The GE-90 has a fan diameter of 3124 mm and a rotational speed of 3475 RPM. Their circumferential velocity ...
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I have heard that propellers with more than four blades are not as efficient as 4 or less blades because of lower thrust which may result from interfering prop-streams. But I see the ATR-42/72 and ...
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### What is the bypass air in a turbofan engine actually for?

I'm planning on building a small model turbofan engine for a bit of fun but I thought I'd better get a better understanding of how they work first. I understand the majority of it at the moment but I'...
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### Is there any equation to bind velocity, thrust and power?

I am designing a remote controlled airship. I will tune it so that the lift given by Archimedes' Principle will exactly balance the weight of all the structure. It will be propelled by brushless ...
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### Why aren't there any widebody propliners for the high-density short-haul markets?

Jetliners come in both narrowbody (one aisle) and widebody (two or more aisles) versions, but all propliners, to the best of my knowledge, are narrowbody aircraft. Now, granted, one of the big ...
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### Did the XF-84H Thunderscreech really cause “900 sonic booms per minute”?

The Republic XF-84H, known as the "Thunderscreech" was an experimental version of the F-84F Thunderstreak. It was intended to be a supersonic turboprop fighter. Even at idle, the prop tips rotated at ...
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### If an elliptically-shaped aerofoil gives the optimum lift distribution, why aren't propeller blades designed around this ideal?

So given an elliptical lift distribution is the most efficient, why are propellers not designed around this? Props aren't affected by the adverse stall characteristics that concern a "main", ...
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### At what point is a turbine powered ducted propeller considered a turbofan?

Turboprop Propellers can be ducted for extra thrust. What are the criteria for determining that the engine is no longer a ducted propeller design, but a turbofan? Does there have to be a type of ...
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### Why don't aeroplanes use propellers with more blades like the intake on a fanjet?

The air intake on a fanjet typically has many small angled blades. A wind pump in an American film might have many broad slatted blades. My desk fan has 3 very large scooping blades and seems quite ...
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### How does blade solidity ratio relate to thrust/power/torque of a propeller?

for quite some time I was using ABBOTT formula for static thrust estimation on a two-bladed propellers: $$T=6.8\times10^{-5}\times D^{3}\times p\times RPM^{2}$$ $T$ is Static Thrust (N); $D$ is ...
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### Why is the bypass ratio of a turboprop higher than turbofan?

Whenever, I come across turboprop, the author always mentions that they have higher bypass ratio than turbofan but no one explains the reason for this. So, is the bypass ratio higher due to higher ...
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### Is 1 propeller always more efficient than 2?

Based on other answers I've read here (1) (2) (3), a single large blade propeller is the most efficient type of thrust you can get. There are 2 reasons for this (as I understand it). Firstly, ...
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### In what way are the airfoils used for a propeller different from the ones used in turbofan engine?

Airfoils are used in the blades of a propeller as well as the blades of the fan, axial compressor and turbine in a turbofan engine. Thus, the airfoils used in above two applications have different ...