Openpropeller

Openpropeller is a term applied to open-source projects and communities that publish propeller design data, analysis tools, and documentation to enable collaborative development of propellers for boats, aircraft, and wind turbines. It emphasizes transparent methods and reproducible results.

Typical offerings include computational tools that implement blade element momentum theory, viscous-inviscid interaction, or CFD-based analyses; geometry libraries for generating propeller blades; performance datasets (thrust, torque, efficiency) across RPM and operating conditions; and optimization routines to adjust blade shape with target performance. Some projects also host tutorials and validation cases.

Licensing and governance: openpropeller initiatives usually distribute software and data under open licenses (e.g., MIT, GPL) and operate on public repositories with contribution guidelines, issue tracking, and peer review. Data quality varies; users are advised to validate results for critical applications.

Impact: by lowering barriers to entry, openpropeller supports education, research, and incremental improvements in propeller efficiency and reliability. It complements commercial design tools by offering transparency and community validation.