Investigation of a Cruising Fixed Wing Mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Performance Optimization
Keywords:
Aerodynamic efficiency, Wing design, Mini unmanned aerial vehiclesAbstract
The applications of unmanned aerial vehicles have been extended through the recent decades and they are utilized for both civil and military applications. The urge to utilize unmanned aerial vehicles for civil purposes has elevated researchers and industries interest towards the mini unmanned aerial vehicle (MUAV) category due to its suitable configurations and capabilities for multidisciplinary civil purposes. This study is an effort to further enhance the aerodynamic efficiency of MUAVs through a parametric study of the wing and proposing an innovative bioinspired wing design. The research is conducted utilizing numerical simulation and experimental validation. This research provides a better understanding of different wing parameter(s) effect on the aerodynamic performance of the wing and mini unmanned aerial vehicles. A new wing configuration is designed, implemented and evaluated. The wing is named as Alpine since it is inspired by biomimicry of alpine swift bird. Evaluation of the new wing geometry shows that the Alpine wing geometry performs 35.9% more efficient compared to an existing wing with similar wing area. Hence, the aerodynamic efficiency optimization is achieved for the Alpine wing which helps to enhance the performance of MUAVs.
Downloads
References
Abdulrahim, M., Watkins, S., Segal, R., Marino, M., and Sheridan, J. (2010). Dynamic sensitivity to atmospheric turbulence of unmanned air vehicles with varying configuration. Journal of Aircraft, 47(6), 1873-1883.
Ananda, G. K., Sukumar, P. P., and Selig, M. S. (2015). Measured aerodynamic characteristics of wings at low Reynolds numbers. Aerospace Science and Technology, 42, 392-406.
Bronz, M., Hattenberger, G., and Moschetta, J. M. (2013). Development of a long endurance mini-uav: Eternity. International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles, 5(4), 261-272.
Chahl, J. (2015). Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) research opportunities. Aerospace, 2(2), 189-202.
DeLuca, A. M., Reeder, M. F., Freeman, J. A., and Ol, M. V. (2006). Flexible-and rigid-wing micro air vehicle: lift and drag comparison. Journal of Aircraft, 43(2), 572-575.
Drovetski, S. V. (1996). Influence of the trailing-edge notch on flight performance of galliforms. The Auk, 113(4), 802-810.
Eftekhri, S., and Al-Obaidi, A. S. M. (2019). Investigation of a NACA 0012 Finite Wing Aerodynamics at Low Reynold’ s Numbers and 0° to 90° Angle of Attack. Journal of Aerospace Technology and Management, 11, e1519.
Ghazzai, H., Ghorbel, M. B., Kadri, A., Hossain, M. J., and Menouar, H. (2017). Energy-efficient management of unmanned aerial vehicles for underlay cognitive radio systems. IEEE Transactions on Green Communications and Networking, 1(4), 434-443.
Giguere, P., and Selig, M. S. (1998). New airfoilsforsmall horizontal axis wind turbines. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 120(2), 108-114.
Hain, R., Kähler, C. J., and Radespiel, R. (2009). Dynamics of laminar separation bubbles at low-Reynolds-number aerofoils. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 630, 129-153.
Kim, D. H., and Chang, J. W. (2014). Low-Reynolds-number effect on the aerodynamic characteristics of a pitching NACA0012 airfoil. Aerospace Science and Technology, 32(1), 162-168.
Kontogiannis, S. G., and Ekaterinaris, J. A. (2013). Design, performance evaluation and optimization of a UAV. Aerospace Science and Technology, 29(1), 339-350.
Kumar, R. S., Sivakumar, V., Ramakrishna Nanda, B., Arjhun, A.K., and Suriyapandiyan (2017). Numerical investigation of two element camber morphing air foil in low reynolds number flows. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology, 12(7), 1939-1955.
Lei, Z. (2005). Effect of RANS turbulence models on computation of vortical flow over wing body configuration. Transactions of the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences, 48(161), 152-160.
Liechti, F., Witvliet, W., Weber, R., and Bächler, E. (2013). First evidence of a 200-day non-stop flight in a bird. Nature Communications, 4, 2554.
Martínez-Aranda, S., García-González, A. L., Parras, L., Velázquez-Navarro, J. F., and Del Pino, C. (2016). Comparison of the aerodynamic characteristics of the NACA0012 air foil at low to-moderate Reynolds numbers for any aspect ratio. International Journal of Aerospace Sciences, 4(1), 1-8.
Mueller, T. J., and DeLaurier, J. D. (2003). Aerodynamics of small vehicles. Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, 35(1), 89-111.
Panagiotou, P., Kaparos, P., and Yakinthos, K. (2014). Winglet design and optimization for a MALE UAV using CFD. Aerospace Science and Technology, 39, 190-205.
Sathaye, S., Yuan, J., and Olinger, D. (2004). Lift Distributions on Low-Aspect-Ratio Wings at Low Reynolds Numbers for Micro -Air Vehicle Applications. In 22nd Applied Aerodynamics Conference and Exhibit (p. 4970).
Shah, H., Mathew, S., and Lim, C. M. (2015). Numerical simulation of flow over an air foil for small wind turbines using the gamma-theta model. International Journal of Energy and Environmental Engineering, 6(4), 419-429.
Shukla, A., and Karki, H. (2016). Application of robotics in onshore oil and gas industry—A review Part I. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 75, 490-507.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2019 Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
