Pipeline for parametrization and geometry generation of a propeller blade

September 01, 2026

2026   ·   Tools

This tool, developed by Alfredo Escolano in the framework of the project, aims to parametrize a given geometry of a propeller blade with chord, sweep, twist and thickness on different sections of the blade. With this data, a CAD file of the target geometry is generated in order to study the propellers in 3D software. Furthermore, the geometry can be automatically ran on a generic unsteady case. The software used for this pipeline have been:

  • Matlab: automation of the pipeline and commands.
  • OpenVSP: generation of blades from the parameters (Chord, Thickness, Twist and Sweep).
  • OpenFOAM: CFD simulation.

Results of the pipeline

The parametrization of the given geometry is performed following Figure 1. Those values obtained are the definitions needed for OpenVSP in order to define the propeller.

Figure 1 – Parameters obtained with the pipeline

Verification of the geometric similarities between the given geometry and the parametrized one, using the Hausdorff distance as metric. This maximum distance is found on the blade tip, as can be observed on Figure 3. The geometric comparison has been performed on 2 cases. The first one, parametrizing 22 sections all along the blade. The second one, parametrizing 67. The results can be seen on the following table:

22 sections GEOMETRY TO REPLICATE - REPLICA (mm) ERROR RELATIVE TO THE MEAN CHORD (%)
Hausdorff distance 8.012 24.32
Mean distance 2.001 6.67
67 sections GEOMETRY TO REPLICATE - REPLICA (mm) ERROR RELATIVE TO THE MEAN CHORD (%)
Hausdorff distance 4.735 15.78
Mean distance 0.794 2.64
Table 1 – Geometric results comparison for the CFProp 16x5.4R model

Visual comparison between the given geometry and the parametrized one:

Figure 2 – Visual comparison between the given geometry and the parametrized one
Figure 3 – Zoom on the area of maximum error

It can be observed how the tip of the blade differs; this is the only main difference between the original and the reconstructed geometry. The parameters of the last section have been copied for the previous one due to anomalies caused on OpenVSP at the blade tip.

CFD results

Verification on CFD of the replica is shown on the following table. It can be noted that the error is of the same order of magnitude as the Hausdorff distance shown previously. The geometries have two main differences: the hub and the blade tip, which can affect the results.

  GEOMETRY TO REPLICATE REPLICATED GEOMETRY (22 SECTIONS) ERROR (%)
Force Z (N) 20.91 16.2 22.5
Moment Z (N·m) -0.54 -0.42 22.2
Table 1 – CFD results comparison for the CFProp 16x5.4R model