The effects of rectangular riblets on rectangular micro air vehicles for drag reduction

Author(s):  
Mohammadreza Radmanesh ◽  
Iman Samani ◽  
Alireza Amiriyoon ◽  
Mohammad-Reza Tavakoli

Reduced drag, increased lift and, consequently, increased vital ratio and lift-to-drag coefficients are crucial in almost all efficient micro air vehicles. Riblet geometries use a variety of air vehicles. Further investigation on micro air vehicles is, however, necessary for enhanced development. Rectangular riblets on a rectangular micro air vehicle are computationally investigated. In this study, the governing equation of fluid flow is solved numerically; the turbulent model around the NACA S5020 airfoil section is covered by riblets either on both sides or on the upper side of the wings. Results show a difference of behavior in drag reduction due to the angle of attack on the airfoil. When the lift-to-drag coefficient of an angle of attack is at its maximum, an improvement can be observed, where lift-to-drag ratio increases, and drag decreases. Results for the two-side riblets show an increase in the lift-to-drag ratio as well; although the lift-to-drag coefficient and the drag reduction of riblets on both sides were comparatively less than that for riblets on the upside.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2076 (1) ◽  
pp. 012066
Author(s):  
Rui Yin ◽  
Jing Huang ◽  
Zhi-Yuan He

Abstract The NACA4415 airfoil was numerically simulated with the help of the Fluent software to analyze its aerodynamic characteristics. Results are acquired as follows: The calculation accuracy of Fluent software is much higher than that of XFOIL software; the calculation result of SST k-ω(sstkw) turbulence model is closest to the experimental value; within a certain range, the larger the Reynolds number is, the larger the lift coefficient and lift-to-drag ratio of the airfoil will be, and the smaller the drag coefficient will be; when the angle of attack is less than the optimal angle of attack, the Reynolds number has less influence on the lift-to-drag coefficient and the lift-to-drag ratio; as the Reynolds number increases, the optimal angle of attack increases slightly, and the applicable angle of attack range for high lift-to-drag ratios becomes smaller.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2076 (1) ◽  
pp. 012078
Author(s):  
Rui Yin ◽  
Jing Huang ◽  
Zhi-Yuan He

Abstract The aerodynamic characteristics of NACA4412 airfoil with different pitching motion elements were compared and analyzed based on CFD in this research. The results are acquired as follows: the difference between the lift and drag coefficients of the airfoil during pitch up and pitch down motions becomes larger with the increase of the pitching amplitude or initial angle of attack; as the pitching amplitude increases, the lift coefficient grows slightly greater and the drag coefficient grows much greater; as the initial angle of attack increases, the lift coefficient grows much greater and the drag coefficient grows slightly; the smaller the attenuation frequency is, the larger the lift-to-drag ratio of the airfoil will be.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adetunji Oduyela ◽  
Nathan Slegers

Birds and insects naturally use passive flexing of their wings to augment their stability in uncertain aerodynamic environments. In a similar manner, micro air vehicle designers have been investigating using wing articulation to take advantage of this phenomenon. The result is a class of articulated micro air vehicles where artificial passive joints are designed into the lifting surfaces. In order to analyze how passive articulation affects performance of micro air vehicles in gusty environments, an efficient 8 degree-of-freedom model is developed. Experimental validation of the proposed mathematical model was accomplished using flight test data of an articulated micro air vehicle obtained from a high resolution indoor tracking facility. Analytical investigation of the gust alleviation properties of the articulated micro air vehicle model was carried out using simulations with varying crosswind gust magnitudes. Simulations show that passive articulation in micro air vehicles can increase their robustness to gusts within a range of joint compliance. It is also shown that if articulation joints are made too compliant that gust mitigation performance is degraded when compared to a rigid system.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Xiaohua Zou ◽  
Mingsheng Ling ◽  
Wenzheng Zhai

With the development of flight technology, the need for stable aerodynamic and vibration performance of the aircraft in the civil and military fields has gradually increased. In this case, the requirements for aerodynamic and vibration characteristics of the aircraft have also been strengthened. The existing four-rotor aircraft carries limited airborne equipment and payload, while the current eight-rotor aircraft adopts a plane layout. The size of the propeller is generally fixed, including the load capacity. The upper and lower tower layout analyzed in this paper can effectively solve the problems of insufficient four-axis load and unstable aerodynamic and vibration performance of the existing eight-axis aircraft. This paper takes the miniature octorotor as the research object and studies the aerodynamic characteristics of the miniature octorotor at different low Reynolds numbers, different air pressures and thicknesses, and the lift coefficient and lift-to-drag ratio, as well as the vibration under different elastic moduli and air pressure characteristics. The research algorithm adopted in this paper is the numerical method of fluid-solid cohesion and the control equation of flow field analysis. The research results show that, with the increase in the Reynolds number within a certain range, the aerodynamic characteristics of the miniature octorotor gradually become better. When the elastic modulus is 2.5 E, the aircraft’s specific performance is that the lift increases, the critical angle of attack increases, the drag decreases, the lift-to-drag ratio increases significantly, and the angle of attack decreases. However, the transition position of the flow around the airfoil surface is getting closer to the leading edge, and its state is more likely to transition from laminar flow to turbulent flow. When the unidirectional carbon fiber-reinforced thickness is 0.2 mm and the thin arc-shaped airfoil with the convex structure has a uniform thickness of 2.5% and a uniform curvature of 4.5%, the aerodynamic and vibration characteristics of the octorotor aircraft are most beneficial to flight.


2019 ◽  
Vol 131 ◽  
pp. 01120
Author(s):  
Lei Wang ◽  
Lu Min Wang ◽  
Yong Li Liu ◽  
Wen Wen Yu ◽  
Guang Rui Qi ◽  
...  

The effect of board bending degree on hydrodynamic performances of a single-layer cambered otter-board was investigated using engineering models in a wind tunnel. Three different bending degree boards were evaluated at a wind speed of 28 m/s. Parameters measured included: drag coefficient Cx, lift coefficient Cy, pitch moment coefficient Cm, center of pressure coefficient Cp , over a range of angle of attack (0° to 70°). These coefficients were used in analyzing the differences in the performance among the three otter-board models. Results showed that the bending of the board(No. 2, No. 3) increased the water resistance of the otter-board, and improved the lift coefficient of the otter-board in the small angle of attack (0°<α≤20 °) ; the maximum lift coefficients Cy of otter-board model (No. 1) was higher (1.680, α = 25°). the maximum lift–drag ratios of models (No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3) are 6.822 (α = 7.5 °), 6.533 (α = 2.5 °) and 6.384 (α = 5.0°), which showed that the board bending reduces the lift-to-drag ratio of the otter-board.The stability of the No. 3 model was better than those two models (No. 1, No. 2) in most range of attack angle, but No. 1 otter-board model had a better stability in roll of otter-board. The findings of this study can offer useful reference data for the structural optimization of otter-boards for trawling.


Author(s):  
Peter J. Attar ◽  
Raymond E. Gordnier ◽  
Jordan W. Johnston ◽  
William A. Romberg ◽  
Ramkumar N. Parthasarathy

The fluid and structural response of two different membrane wing Micro Air Vehicles is studied through computation and experiment. A (three) batten-reinforced fixed wing membrane micro air vehicle is used to determine the effect of membrane prestrain and fixed angle of attack on flutter and limit cycle behavior of fixed wing membrane Micro Air Vehicles. For each configuration tested, flutter and subsequent limit cycle oscillations are measured in wind tunnel tests and predicted using an aeroelastic computational model consisting of a nonlinear finite element model coupled to a vortex lattice solution of the Laplace equation and boundary conditions. Correlation between the predicted and measured onset of limit cycle oscillation is good as is the prediction of the amplitude of the limit cycle at the trailing edge of the lower membrane. A direct correlation between levels of strain and the phase of the membranes during the limit cycle is found in the computation and thought to also occur in the experiment. The second membrane wing micro air vehicle configuration is that of a plunging membrane airfoil model. This model is studied computationally using a sixth-order finite difference solution of the Navier-Stokes equations coupled to a nonlinear string finite element model. The effect, on the structural and fluid response, of plunging Strouhal number, reduced frequency and static angle of attack is examined. At two degree angle of attack, and Strouhal number of 0.2, the effect of increasing the plunging reduced frequency is to decrease the sectional lift coefficient and increase the sectional drag coefficient. At this angle of attack, minimal change in the sectional lift coefficient is found when increasing from a Strouhal number of 0.2 to 0.5 at reduced frequencies of 0.5 and 5.903, the lowest and highest values of this parameter which are studied in this work. For this angle of attack the maximum change which occurs when increasing the Strouhal number from 0.2 to 0.5 is at a reduced frequency of 1.5. When the effect of angle of attack is studied, it is found that at a Strouhal number of 0.5 and reduced frequency of 1.5 the plunging flexible model demonstrates improved lift characteristics over the fixed flexible airfoil case. The greatest improvement occurs at an angle of attack of 2 degrees followed by 10 degrees and then 6 degrees. Finally the effect on the flow characteristics of airfoil flexibility is investigated by increasing the membrane pre-strain from a nominal value of 5 percent to that of 20 percent. This increase in pre-strain results in a reduced value of sectional lift coefficient as compared the 5 percent pre-strain case at the same fixed angle of attack, Strouhal number and reduced frequency.


2009 ◽  
Vol 113 (1142) ◽  
pp. 253-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. C. Wilkins ◽  
K. Knowles

AbstractThe aerodynamics of insect-like flapping are dominated by the production of a large, stable, and lift-enhancing leading-edge vortex (LEV) above the wing. In this paper the phenomenology behind the LEV is explored, the reasons for its stability are investigated, and the effects on the LEV of changing Reynolds number or angle-of-attack are studied. A predominantly-computational method has been used, validated against both existing and new experimental data. It is concluded that the LEV is stable over the entire range of Reynolds numbers investigated here and that changes in angle-of-attack do not affect the LEV’s stability. The primary motivation of the current work is to ascertain whether insect-like flapping can be successfully ‘scaled up’ to produce a flapping-wing micro air vehicle (FMAV) and the results presented here suggest that this should be the case.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2117 (1) ◽  
pp. 012013
Author(s):  
S P Setyo Hariyadi ◽  
Sutardi ◽  
Sukahir ◽  
Jamaludin

Abstract The swept-back wing has been used in almost all aircraft wings. This is necessary to reduce the pressure drag from the wings so that there is an increase in aerodynamic performance. The aerodynamic performance is the ratio between the total drag coefficient and the lift coefficient. This research attempts to explain the swept-back wing phenomenon in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) on Eppler 562 airfoil. The numerical simulation uses the k-ε turbulent model at Reynolds number (Re) = 2.34 x 104. Variation of backward swept angle Λ = 0°, 15°, and 30°. The separation growth Λ = 0° occurred more on the wing root, while Λ = 15° and Λ = 30° occurred more on the wingtip. At Λ = 15°, as the angle of attack increases, the area of the separation increases, and the area of the transition towards the separation decreases. The reattach area also has an increase in the area of the trailing edge. At Λ = 30°, with an increase in the angle of attack, there is a shift from the wingtip area to the mid-span. The area of separation and transition to separation has increased significantly. The re-attach area at α = 8o has not been seen, so at α = 12o it has been seen significantly. The vorticity on the x-axis shows Λ = 15°, and Λ = 30° has a wider area while on the z-axis, Λ = 15°, and Λ = 30° have stronger vortex strength. However, in the mid-span, Λ = 0° has a stronger result.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (32) ◽  
pp. 2050370
Author(s):  
Yu-Shan Meng ◽  
Li Yan ◽  
Shi-Bin Li ◽  
Wei Huang

In this study, the drag force and heat flux reduction mechanism induced by the aerodisk (with disks on its nose) with the freestream Mach number being 4.937 has been numerically investigated, and the simulations have been carried out by the three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations coupled with the SST [Formula: see text] turbulence model. The influence of the angle of attack on the drag and heat flux reduction has been analyzed comprehensively. The obtained results show that the drag force of the spiked blunt body can be reduced by the aerodisk, and the drag force decreases by 24.63%. The flow mechanism of the complex flow is drastically modified by the angle of attack, and this results in a strong flow asymmetry. This asymmetry becomes more and more obvious as the angle of attack increases. Both the pressure force and viscous force increase with the increase of the angle of attack. Moreover, both the lift and drag coefficients increase as the angle of attack increases, and the lift-to-drag ratio increases first and then decreases with the increase of the angle of attack. When the angle of attack is [Formula: see text], the maximum lift-to-drag ratio is close to 0.36.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 175682931983766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jalil Modares ◽  
Nicholas Mastronarde ◽  
Karthik Dantu

Recent advances in multi-rotor vehicle control and miniaturization of hardware, sensing, and battery technologies have enabled cheap, practical design of micro air vehicles for civilian and hobby applications. In parallel, several applications are being envisioned that bring together a swarm of multiple networked micro air vehicles to accomplish large tasks in coordination. However, it is still very challenging to deploy multiple micro air vehicles concurrently. To address this challenge, we have developed an open software/hardware platform called the University at Buffalo’s Airborne Networking and Communications Testbed (UB-ANC), and an associated emulation framework called the UB-ANC Emulator. In this paper, we present the UB-ANC Emulator, which combines multi-micro air vehicle planning and control with high-fidelity network simulation, enables practitioners to design micro air vehicle swarm applications in software and provides seamless transition to deployment on actual hardware. We demonstrate the UB-ANC Emulator’s accuracy against experimental data collected in two mission scenarios: a simple mission with three networked micro air vehicles and a sophisticated coverage path planning mission with a single micro air vehicle. To accurately reflect the performance of a micro air vehicle swarm where communication links are subject to interference and packet losses, and protocols at the data link, network, and transport layers affect network throughput, latency, and reliability, we integrate the open-source discrete-event network simulator ns-3 into the UB-ANC Emulator. We demonstrate through node-to-node and end-to-end measurements how the UB-ANC Emulator can be used to simulate multiple networked micro air vehicles with accurate modeling of mobility, control, wireless channel characteristics, and network protocols defined in ns-3.


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