Optimisation Studies for an Efficient Aerodynamic Configuration of a Blended Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

There are various configurations and parameters that contribute to the Design of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for specific applications. This paper deals with an innovative design of an unmanned aerial vehicle for a specified class of UAVs that require demands such as long endurance, minimized landing space with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities. The focal point of this design is superimposing the high endurance blended wing design into tri-copter to address these parameters. The preliminary calculations are initially performed for the blended wing VTOL vehicle based on the required payload capacity and endurance. Superimposing the tri-copter will decrease the aerodynamic efficiency of the vehicle. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve complex problems involving fluid flow which will effectively employed to reduce the cost and time during the conceptual and preliminary design stages. CFD analysis was carried out to estimate the major parameters like lift, drag, lift coefficient (CL) and drag coefficient (CD) for various Angle of Attack (AoA) for configurations of blended wing vehicle with and without tri-copter system in the cruise condition. Thus, the vehicle design and propulsion system is effectively optimized using this drag estimation.

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A Flow Analysis Using a Water Tunnel of an Innovative Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11135772 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (13) ◽

pp. 5772

Author(s):

Dawid Lis ◽

Adam Januszko ◽

Tadeusz Dobrocinski

Keyword(s):

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽

Rapid Development ◽

Lift Coefficient ◽

Flow Analysis ◽

Water Tunnel ◽

Dual Use ◽

Aerial Vehicles ◽

Aerial Vehicle ◽

Technical Construction

The purpose of this article is to present and discuss the results of a non-standard unnamed aerial vehicle construction with a constant cross-section square-shaped avionic profile. Based on the model’s in-air observed maneuverability, the research of avionic construction behavior was carried out in a water tunnel. The results show the model’s specific lift capabilities in comparison to classical avionic constructions. The characteristic results of the lift coefficient showed that the unmanned aerial vehicle presents favorable features than classic avionic constructions. The model was created with the prospect of using it in the future for dual-use purposes, where unmanned aerial vehicles are currently experiencing very rapid development. When creating the prototype, the focus was on low production cost, as well as convenience in operation. The development of this type of breakthrough avionic solution, which shows extraordinary maneuverability, may contribute to increasing the popularity and, above all, the availability of unmanned aerial vehicles for the largest possible group of recipients because of high avionic properties in relation to the technical construction complexity.

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Aerodynamic Analysis of Blended Wing Body - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (BWB-UAV) Equipped with Horizontal Stabilizers

MATEC Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/matecconf/201925602004 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 256 ◽

pp. 02004

Author(s):

Nornashiha Mohd Saad ◽

Wirachman Wisnoe ◽

Rizal Effendy Mohd Nasir ◽

Zurriati Mohd Ali ◽

Ehan Sabah Shukri Askari

Keyword(s):

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽

Cfd Simulation ◽

Lift Coefficient ◽

Angle Of Attack ◽

Flight Test ◽

Longitudinal Direction ◽

Static Stability ◽

Pitching Moment ◽

Aerial Vehicle ◽

Blended Wing Body

This paper presents an aerodynamic characteristic study in longitudinal direction of UiTM Blended Wing Body-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Prototype (BWB-UAV Prototype) equipped with horizontal stabilizers. Flight tests have been conducted and as the result, BWB experienced overturning condition at certain angle of attack. Horizontal stabilizer was added at different location and size to overcome the issue during the flight test. Therefore, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis is performed at different configuration of horizontal stabilizer using Spalart - Allmaras as a turbulence model. CFD simulation of the aircraft is conducted at Mach number 0.06 or v = 20 m/s at various angle of attack, α. The data of lift coefficient (CL), drag coefficient (CD), and pitching moment coefficient (CM) is obtained from the simulations. The data is represented in curves against angle of attack to measure the performance of BWB prototype with horizontal stabilizer. From the simulation, configuration with far distance and large horizontal stabilizer gives steeper negative pitching moment slope indicating better static stability of the aircraft.

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Experimental Study of Rigid and Flexible Tandem Wing for Micro Aerial Vehicle

Journal of Advanced Research in Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences ◽

10.37934/arfmts.85.2.3343 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 85 (2) ◽

pp. 33-43

Author(s):

Wan Mazlina Wan Mohamed ◽

Mohd Azmi Ismail ◽

Muhammad Ridzwan Ramli ◽

Aliff Farhan Mohd Yamin ◽

Koay Mei Hyie ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Reynolds Number ◽

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽

Lift Coefficient ◽

Reynolds Numbers ◽

Micro Aerial Vehicle ◽

Flexible Wing ◽

Vehicle Structure ◽

Aerial Vehicle ◽

Wing Skin ◽

Rigid Wing

Unmanned aerial vehicle is becoming increasingly popular each year. Now, aeronautical researchers are focusing on size minimization of unmanned aerial vehicle, especially drone and micro aerial vehicle. The lift coefficient of micro aerial vehicle has wing dimension of 12 cm and mass of less than 7 g. In the present study, with the aid of 3D printer, polylactic acid material was used to develop the micro aerial vehicle structure for tandem wing arrangement. The materials for rigid wing skin and flexible wing skin were laminating film and latex membrane, respectively. The present work elaborates the lift coefficient profiles on rigid wing skin and flexible wing skin at wing flapping frequency of 11 Hz, three different Reynolds numbers of 14000, 19000 and 24000, and five different angles of attacks between 0° and 50°. According to the results obtained, the lift coefficient decreased as the Reynolds number increased. The lift coefficient increased up to 9 as the angle of attack increased from 0° to 50° at the Reynolds number of 14000 for flexible wing skin. The results also showed that the lift coefficient of flexible wing skin was higher than that of rigid wing skin at the attack angle of10° and below, except for the Reynolds number of 14000.

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Solar UAV design framework for a HALE flight

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology ◽

10.1108/aeat-03-2017-0093 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 91 (7) ◽

pp. 927-937

Author(s):

Hoyon Hwang ◽

Jaeyoung Cha ◽

Jon Ahn

Keyword(s):

User Interfaces ◽

Minimum Weight ◽

Lift Coefficient ◽

Aircraft Design ◽

Design Framework ◽

Night Time ◽

Simple Method ◽

Content Type ◽

Aerial Vehicle ◽

Long Endurance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the development of an optimal design framework for high altitude long endurance solar unmanned aerial vehicle. The proposed solar aircraft design framework provides a simple method to design solar aircraft for users of all levels of experience. Design/methodology/approach This design framework consists of algorithms and user interfaces for the design of experiments, optimization and mission analysis that includes aerodynamics, performance, solar energy, weight and flight distances. Findings The proposed sizing method produces the optimal solar aircraft that yields the minimum weight and satisfies the constraints such as the power balance, the night time energy balance and the lift coefficient limit. Research limitations/implications The design conditions for the sizing process are given in terms of mission altitudes, flight dates, flight latitudes/longitudes and design factors for the aircraft configuration. Practical implications The framework environment is light and easily accessible as it is implemented using open programs without the use of any expensive commercial tools or in-house programs. In addition, this study presents a sizing method for solar aircraft as traditional sizing methods fail to reflect their unique features. Social implications Solar aircraft can be used in place of a satellite and introduce many advantages. The solar aircraft is much cheaper than the conventional satellite, which costs approximately $200-300m. It operates at a closer altitude to the ground and allows for a better visual inspection. It also provides greater flexibility of missions and covers a wider range of applications. Originality/value This study presents the implementation of a function that yields optimized flight performance under the given mission conditions, such as climb, cruise and descent for a solar aircraft.

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Stepwise fusion algorithm with dual correction for multi-sensor navigation

International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems ◽

10.1177/1729881418779931 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. 172988141877993 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Rong Wang ◽

Zhi Xiong ◽

Jianye Liu ◽

Yuxuan Cao

Keyword(s):

High Altitude ◽

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽

Error Estimation ◽

Attitude Determination ◽

Vehicle Navigation ◽

Fusion Algorithm ◽

Aerial Vehicle ◽

Determination System ◽

Long Endurance ◽

Sensor Navigation

In high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles, a celestial attitude determination system is used to enhance the inertial navigation system (INS)/global positioning system (GPS) to achieve the required attitude performance. The traditional federal filter is not applicable for INS/GPS/celestial attitude determination system information fusion because it does not consider the mutually coupled relationship between the horizontal reference error in the celestial attitude determination system and the navigation error; this limitation results in reduced navigation accuracy. This article proposes a novel stepwise fusion algorithm with dual correction for multi-sensor navigation. Considering the horizontal reference error, the celestial attitude determination system measurement model is constructed and the issues involved in applying the federal filter are discussed. Then, preliminary error estimation and horizontal reference compensation are added to the navigation architecture. In addition, a sequential update strategy is derived to estimate the attitude error with the compensated celestial attitude determination system based on the preliminary estimation. A stepwise correction filtering algorithm with interactive preliminary and sequential updates that can effectively fuse celestial attitude determination system measurements with the INS/GPS is constructed. High-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle navigation in a remote sensing task is simulated to verify the performance of the proposed method. The simulation results demonstrate that the horizontal reference error is effectively compensated, and the attitude accuracy is significantly improved after stepwise error estimation and correction. The proposed method also provides a novel multi-sensor integrated navigation architecture with mutually coupled errors; this architecture is beneficial in unmanned aerial vehicle navigation applications.

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AERODYNAMIC OF UITM'S BLENDED-WING-BODY UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE BASELINE-II EQUIPPED WITH ONE CENTRAL VERTICAL RUDDER

Jurnal Teknologi ◽

10.11113/jt.v75.5221 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 75 (8) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Wirachman Wisnoe ◽

Rizal E.M. Nasir ◽

Ramzyzan Ramly ◽

Wahyu Kuntjoro ◽

Firdaus Muhammad

Keyword(s):

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽

Cfd Simulation ◽

Aerodynamic Characteristics ◽

Control Surface ◽

Wind Tunnel Experiments ◽

Aerodynamic Parameter ◽

Aerial Vehicle ◽

Computational Fluid Dynamics Cfd ◽

Blended Wing Body ◽

Lift And Drag

In this paper, a study of aerodynamic characteristics of UiTM's Blended-Wing-Body Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (BWB-UAV) Baseline-II in terms of side force, drag force and yawing moment coefficients are presented through Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation. A vertical rudder is added to the aircraft at the rear centre part of the fuselage as yawing control surface. The study consists of varying the side slip angles for various rudder deflection angles and to plot the results for each aerodynamic parameter. The comparison with other yawing control surface for the same aircraft obtained previously are also presented. For validation purpose, the lift and drag coefficients are compared with the results obtained from wind tunnel experiments.

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Design and Validation of a New Morphing Camber System by Testing in the Price—Païdoussis Subsonic Wind Tunnel

Aerospace ◽

10.3390/aerospace7030023 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 23 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

David Communier ◽

Ruxandra Mihaela Botez ◽

Tony Wong

Keyword(s):

Wind Tunnel ◽

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽

Lift Coefficient ◽

Angle Of Attack ◽

Leading Edge ◽

Trailing Edge ◽

Subsonic Wind Tunnel ◽

Aerial Vehicle ◽

Stall Angle

This paper presents the design and wind tunnel testing of a morphing camber system and an estimation of performances on an unmanned aerial vehicle. The morphing camber system is a combination of two subsystems: the morphing trailing edge and the morphing leading edge. Results of the present study show that the aerodynamics effects of the two subsystems are combined, without interfering with each other on the wing. The morphing camber system acts only on the lift coefficient at a 0° angle of attack when morphing the trailing edge, and only on the stall angle when morphing the leading edge. The behavior of the aerodynamics performances from the MTE and the MLE should allow individual control of the morphing camber trailing and leading edges. The estimation of the performances of the morphing camber on an unmanned aerial vehicle indicates that the morphing of the camber allows a drag reduction. This result is due to the smaller angle of attack needed for an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with the morphing camber system than an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with classical aileron. In the case study, the morphing camber system was found to allow a reduction of the drag when the lift coefficient was higher than 0.48.

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Control and flight test of a tilt-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle

International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems ◽

10.1177/1729881416678141 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 172988141667814 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Chao Chen ◽

Jiyang Zhang ◽

Daibing Zhang ◽

Lincheng Shen

Keyword(s):

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽

High Speed ◽

Cross Coupling ◽

Flight Test ◽

Control Allocation ◽

Tilt Rotor ◽

Satisfactory Performance ◽

Allocation Method ◽

Aerial Vehicle ◽

The Cost

Tilt-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles have attracted increasing attention due to their ability to perform vertical take-off and landing and their high-speed cruising abilities, thereby presenting broad application prospects. Considering portability and applications in tasks characterized by constrained or small scope areas, this article presents a compact tricopter configuration tilt-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle with full modes of flight from the rotor mode to the fixed-wing mode and vice versa. The unique multiple modes make the tilt-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle a multi-input multi-output, non-affine, multi-channel cross coupling, and nonlinear system. Considering these characteristics, a control allocation method is designed to make the controller adaptive to the full modes of flight. To reduce the cost, the accurate dynamic model of the tilt-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle is not obtained, so a full-mode flight strategy is designed in view of this situation. An autonomous flight test was conducted, and the results indicate the satisfactory performance of the control allocation method and flight strategy.

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The Reynolds number and flaperon deflection influence taken into account when optimizing the wing airfoil of an unmanned aerial vehicle

Engineering Journal Science and Innovation ◽

10.18698/2308-6033-2020-11-2030 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

N.I. Kochurova ◽

Ye.S. Parkhaev ◽

N.V. Semenchikov

Keyword(s):

Reynolds Number ◽

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽

Multicriteria Optimization ◽

Lift Coefficient ◽

Reynolds Numbers ◽

Horizontal Flight ◽

Wide Range ◽

Aerial Vehicle ◽

Zero Values ◽

Wing Airfoil

The paper considers the solutions to the multicriteria problem of optimizing the wing airfoil of a miniature unmanned aerial vehicle (MUAV) under various constraints. The study introduces the statement of the problem of multicriteria optimization of the airfoil shape, following the condition of MUAV horizontal flight, with an additional condition associated with a change in the flight Reynolds number of the MUAV wing. This statement of the problem allows us to optimize the airfoil, taking into account the load on the wing of the designed vehicle. The wing airfoil was optimized in a wide range of lift coefficients of Cya and Reynolds numbers. The study shows that taking into account the Reynolds number makes it possible to improve the quality of the result obtained during optimization, and introduces a technique for multicriteria optimization of the wing airfoil with sealed mechanization, i.e. with flaperon. Findings of research show that for equal values of the relative thickness, the mechanized airfoil obtained as a result of optimization has a lower center line camber (by 1.5%) than the optimized airfoil without mechanization, due to which a gain in the drag coefficient is achieved at close to zero values of the lift coefficient. The study shows how profitable the use of a wing airfoil with a flaperon on MUAV wings can be, in contrast to an airfoil without mechanization.

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