Contra-rotating Propellers

RAKE & SKEW

Consider the line obtained by joining the midpoints between the leading and trailing edges of a blade at different radii from the axis. If this line is straight and passes through the axis of the propeller, the propeller blades have no skew. Usually however, the line joining the midpoints curves towards the trailing edge, resulting in a propeller whose blades are skewed back. Skew is adopted to reduce vibration. Some modern propeller designs have heavily skewed blades. The angle 0s between a straight line joining the centre of the propeller to the midpoint at the root and a line joining the centre and the midpoint at the blade tip is a measure of skew.

Voith-Schneider Propeller Arrangement.

Action of a Voith_Schneider Propeller.