why cant we just add more blades to propellers and rotors to increase thrust?
In: Physics
For most applications, the thing to optimize or maximize isn’t thrust. In almost any commercial application, one of the biggest factors is fuel efficiency. To be even more specific it is fuel efficiency at cruising speed.
No one wants a jet turbine to produce 1million pounds of maximum thrust but burns ten thousand gallons per minute at cruising speed (when max thrust isn’t needed). Nor would they pay 50million dollars per engine.
There are other factors – maintenance, noise, reliability, size, weight…
Engineers have to find a useful compromise.
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