Approved for public release, distribution unlimited / Over the past few decades, advances in aeronautic and control technologies have established a new vision for future air transportation systems. NASA has initiated the motion with several programs supporting the "highway of the sky," a system of launch pads and air pathways enabling smaller and more easily piloted aircraft to travel the open space above instead of busy freeways and crowded city streets. Previous investigations into crossflow fan technology as a propulsion source have identified its potential for use in personal aircraft and vertical takeoff and landing applications. To further development, performance characteristics must be determined for the possible configurations and under variable conditions to understand factors critical to design. This experiment studied flow characteristics of a crossflow fan incorporating 30 blades of six inch length in a six inch diameter rotor. Comparison was made against the performance of a fan of similar design but one-fourth the length span previously tested. Results were plotted for various parameters along constant speed lines of operation and general trends were determined. These results were used to quantitatively deduce scaling relationships for this device. / US Navy (USN) author.

Thesis (M.S. in Mechanical Engineering)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Hobson, Garth V. ; Gannon, Anthony. "September 2009." Author(s) subject terms: Fan, cross-flow, crossflow, inlet guide vanes, thrust vectoring, vertical take off. Description based on title screen as viewed on Nov. 5, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 95). Also available in print.