scholarly journals Introduction to Aerial Vehicle Flight Mechanics, Stability and Control

Author(s):  
Kevin Knowles
Author(s):  
Igor Petrović ◽  
Sean P. Shea ◽  
Ian P. Smith ◽  
Franc Kosel ◽  
Pier Marzocca

Micro-Air-Vehicles (MAV) flight regimes differs significantly from larger scales airplanes. They are operating at low Reynolds numbers of approximate 104, cruising at speed about 12m/s, and are capable of agile maneuvers in limited space environment. They are compact and easily stowable to facilitate transportation. However, due to the small size, they are usually more vulnerable to the wind gusts with significant complexities associated to their flight mechanics, stability and control, which also makes difficult to quantify flight qualities and performances. Furthermore, complex aerodynamics can produce loading scenarios leading to the destruction of the vehicle during flight operation. To minimize the size of the MAV when not in use, their wings are stowed within the body of the vehicle, and are deployed during operation. To supplement the bulk of knowledge in MAV aero-mechanics, the study of the aerodynamic characteristics of a deformable membrane MAV wing is carried out in this paper. The analysis of the membrane airfoil is performed using a fluid-structure interaction 2D model, to select a set of optimal airfoil parameters for the intended flight regime. Numerical simulations are supplied and validated with an M AV model tested in the wind tunnel.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yukei Oyama

This undergraduate paper demonstrates the design, analysis, and manufacturing of a rocket deployable electric powered experimental unmanned aerial vehicle. The design process begins with defining the volume and dimensions of the allocated payload space for the UAV in the rocket. These dimensions are given by the aerostructures sub team in the Ryerson Rocketry Club. The dimensions given were used to determine the best configuration for the mission. The wing loading, power loading and endurance of the UAV are obtained from the constrained payload volume in the rocket and the avionics system of the of the UAV. The wing area, UAV weight and power requirements were calculated based on the previously determined values. The power requirement determines the motor size and propeller configuration. Aerodynamics, stability, and control were based the selected airfoil and obtained wing area. After completing the design, foam, additive manufacturing, and composite layups were used to create prototypes of the UAV. These prototypes were used to iterate the aircraft and address any immediate changes. The chosen design is a foldable flying wing, once deployed from the rocket has a wingspan of 70 inches, an aspect ratio of 13.35 and a surface area of 367 in2 . A prototype was created to prove the design feasibility of the UAV. The prototype proved to function as planned, capable of gliding, powered flight, and takeoff.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yukei Oyama

This undergraduate paper demonstrates the design, analysis, and manufacturing of a rocket deployable electric powered experimental unmanned aerial vehicle. The design process begins with defining the volume and dimensions of the allocated payload space for the UAV in the rocket. These dimensions are given by the aerostructures sub team in the Ryerson Rocketry Club. The dimensions given were used to determine the best configuration for the mission. The wing loading, power loading and endurance of the UAV are obtained from the constrained payload volume in the rocket and the avionics system of the of the UAV. The wing area, UAV weight and power requirements were calculated based on the previously determined values. The power requirement determines the motor size and propeller configuration. Aerodynamics, stability, and control were based the selected airfoil and obtained wing area. After completing the design, foam, additive manufacturing, and composite layups were used to create prototypes of the UAV. These prototypes were used to iterate the aircraft and address any immediate changes. The chosen design is a foldable flying wing, once deployed from the rocket has a wingspan of 70 inches, an aspect ratio of 13.35 and a surface area of 367 in2 . A prototype was created to prove the design feasibility of the UAV. The prototype proved to function as planned, capable of gliding, powered flight, and takeoff.


2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Rahman Mohammadi Farhadi ◽  
Vyacheslav Kortunov ◽  
Andrii Molchanov ◽  
Tatiana Solianyk

Stability and control derivatives of Skywalker X8 flying wing from flight-test data are estimated by using the combination of the output error and least square methods in the presence of the wind. Data is collected from closed loop flight tests with a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller that caused data co-linearity problems for the identification of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) dynamic system. The data co-linearity problem is solved with a biased estimation via priori information, parameter fixing and constrained optimization, which uses analytical values of aerodynamic parameters, the level of the identifiability and sensitivity of the measurement vector to the parameters. Estimated aerodynamic parameters are compared with the theoretically calculated coefficients of the UAV, moreover, the dynamic model is validated with additional flight-test data and small covariances of the estimated parameters.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (8) ◽  
pp. 2454-2465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zafer Öznalbant ◽  
Mehmet Ş. Kavsaoğlu

The purpose of this work is to present a study on the stability and control of an unmanned, fixed wing, vertical take-off and landing aerial vehicle. This airplane is driven by a fixed-pitch tilt-propeller system with the capability of vertical take-off and landing as well as conventional flight. The novelty of the vehicle is the use of a fixed-pitch propeller system instead of variable-pitch tilt-rotors. There are three flight modes: vertical, transitional and conventional flight modes. Each flight mode has different dynamic characteristics. Therefore, these modes each need dedicated flight control methods. In this paper, the equations of motion are generated by modelling the aerodynamic and propulsion forces and moments. After performing trim condition calculations, longitudinal stability characteristics are investigated for each flight mode. The control methods are described for vertical, transitional and conventional flight modes. Stability augmentation systems, which consist of proportional and proportional/integral controller, are applied. A number of flight tests, including vertical, transitional and conventional flights, have been successfully performed with a prototype aircraft.


Aviation ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-34
Author(s):  
Kamali Chandrasekaran ◽  
Vijeesh Theningaledathil ◽  
Archana Hebbar

This paper discusses the development of a ground based variable stability flight simulator. The simulator is designed to meet the pilot training requirements on flying qualities. Such a requirement arose from a premier Flight-Testing School of the Indian Air Force. The simulator also provides a platform for researchers and aerospace students to understand aircraft dynamics, conduct studies on aircraft configuration design, flight mechanics, guidance & control and to evaluate autonomous navigation algorithms. The aircraft model is built using open source data. The simulator is strengthened with optimization techniques to configure variable aircraft stability and control characteristics to fly and evaluate the various aspects of flying qualities. The methodology is evaluated through a series of engineer and pilot-in-the-loop simulations for varying aircraft stability conditions. The tasks chosen are the proven CAT A HUD tracking tasks. The simulator is also reconfigurable to host an augmented fighter aircraft that can be evaluated by the test pilot team for the functional integrity as a fly-through model.


2020 ◽  
Vol 09 (01) ◽  
pp. 45-63
Author(s):  
Seng Man Wong ◽  
Hann Woei Ho ◽  
Mohd Zulkifly Abdullah

The interest in building hybrid Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is increasing intensively due to its capability to perform Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL), in addition to forward flight. With this capability, the hybrid UAVs are highly on demand in various industries. In this paper, a fixed-wing VTOL UAV with a novel configuration of a dual rotor-embedded wing was designed and developed. The methodology used in the design process adopted the traditional sizing and aerodynamic estimation method with advanced computational simulations and estimation approaches. The design was determined based on a thorough analysis of weight contribution, aerodynamics, propulsion, and stability and control. The results show that the UAV’s preliminary design has successfully reached a total weight of 1.318 kg, achieved a high lift-to-drag ratio of approximately 4, and ensured stable flights with Level 1 flying qualities. A fixed-wing VTOL prototype was developed and fabricated based on the final design parameters using a low-cost hand lay-up process.


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