Application of Active Flow Control Technology in an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Application of Active Flow Control Technology in an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Author: Gaurav
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN:

A low speed wind tunnel experimental investigation was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the leading edge pulsed blowing and the trailing edge jet blowing/ Gurney flap on the improvement of aerodynamic performance of an unmanned aerial vehicle at low Reynolds numbers. The wind tunnel tests for the leading edge pulsed jet blowing were conducted at 10%, 30% and 50% location of the chord length from the leading edge at a free stream velocity of 20 m/s. The jet momentum coefficient and the non-dimensional pulser frequency had been varied independently to investigate the effectiveness of the leading edge pulsed blowing. The trailing edge jet blowing tests were conducted at free stream velocity of 20 m/s at different jet momentum coefficients. The leading edge pulsed blowing showed a strong dependency of the actuator effectiveness on the jet momentum and the pulser frequency. The leading edge pulsed blowing had delayed the flow separation over the airfoil from an angle of attack of 17° to 22° with a docile stall for jet emanating at 10% location of the chord length for a jet momentum coefficient of 0.0275. The pulsed blowing at 50% chord location generated higher lift compared to the 10% location of the pulser with an abrupt stall at 19°. There was no evidence of the lift augmentation in the pre-stall angle of attack regime. The experimental results showed that the trailing edge jet flap was capable of generating significant roll moment at realistic jet momentum coefficients. The fluidic actuators were then integrated into the wings of a scale Extra 330 model airplane. The wind tunnel results for the leading edge pulsed blowing on the scale model indicated a delay in the stall of the airplane from an angle of attack of 12° to 21° with a 13% increase in the lift at take-off and landing speed of 17 m/s. The trailing edge jet actuators were also able to augment lift and demonstrate the roll control authority at low angle attacks at a cruising speed of 30 m/s.

Advanced UAV Aerodynamics, Flight Stability and Control

Advanced UAV Aerodynamics, Flight Stability and Control
Author: Pascual Marqués
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 799
Release: 2017-07-11
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1118928687

Comprehensively covers emerging aerospace technologies Advanced UAV aerodynamics, flight stability and control: Novel concepts, theory and applications presents emerging aerospace technologies in the rapidly growing field of unmanned aircraft engineering. Leading scientists, researchers and inventors describe the findings and innovations accomplished in current research programs and industry applications throughout the world. Topics included cover a wide range of new aerodynamics concepts and their applications for real world fixed-wing (airplanes), rotary wing (helicopter) and quad-rotor aircraft. The book begins with two introductory chapters that address fundamental principles of aerodynamics and flight stability and form a knowledge base for the student of Aerospace Engineering. The book then covers aerodynamics of fixed wing, rotary wing and hybrid unmanned aircraft, before introducing aspects of aircraft flight stability and control. Key features: Sound technical level and inclusion of high-quality experimental and numerical data. Direct application of the aerodynamic technologies and flight stability and control principles described in the book in the development of real-world novel unmanned aircraft concepts. Written by world-class academics, engineers, researchers and inventors from prestigious institutions and industry. The book provides up-to-date information in the field of Aerospace Engineering for university students and lecturers, aerodynamics researchers, aerospace engineers, aircraft designers and manufacturers.

Wind Tunnel and Flight Testing of Active Flow Control on a Uav

Wind Tunnel and Flight Testing of Active Flow Control on a Uav
Author: Yogesh Babbar
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2011
Genre:
ISBN:

Active flow control has been extensively explored in wind tunnel studies but successful in-flight implementation of an active flow control technology still remains a challenge. This thesis presents implementation of active flow control technology onboard a 33% scale Extra 330S ARF aircraft, wind tunnel studies and flight testing of fluidic actuators. The design and construction of the pulsed blowing system for stall suppression (LE actuator) and continuous blowing system for roll control (TE actuator) and pitch control or) have been presented. Full scale wind tunnel testing in 7 ̕ X 10 ̕ Oran W. Nicks low speed wind tunnel shows that the TE actuators are about 50% effective as the conventional ailerons. The LE actuator is found to be capable of suppressing stall from 12° to about 22°. Comparison of characteristics of Active elevator and conventional elevator in 3 ̕ X 4 ̕ low speed wind tunnel show that, the active elevator is as effective as of conventional elevator deflected at 5°. Flight tests show that TE actuators are able to control the aircraft in flight in banked turns. The measured roll rates in-flight support the wind tunnel test findings.

Advanced UAV Aerodynamics, Flight Stability and Control

Advanced UAV Aerodynamics, Flight Stability and Control
Author: Pascual Marqués
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 788
Release: 2017-04-19
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1118928717

Comprehensively covers emerging aerospace technologies Advanced UAV aerodynamics, flight stability and control: Novel concepts, theory and applications presents emerging aerospace technologies in the rapidly growing field of unmanned aircraft engineering. Leading scientists, researchers and inventors describe the findings and innovations accomplished in current research programs and industry applications throughout the world. Topics included cover a wide range of new aerodynamics concepts and their applications for real world fixed-wing (airplanes), rotary wing (helicopter) and quad-rotor aircraft. The book begins with two introductory chapters that address fundamental principles of aerodynamics and flight stability and form a knowledge base for the student of Aerospace Engineering. The book then covers aerodynamics of fixed wing, rotary wing and hybrid unmanned aircraft, before introducing aspects of aircraft flight stability and control. Key features: Sound technical level and inclusion of high-quality experimental and numerical data. Direct application of the aerodynamic technologies and flight stability and control principles described in the book in the development of real-world novel unmanned aircraft concepts. Written by world-class academics, engineers, researchers and inventors from prestigious institutions and industry. The book provides up-to-date information in the field of Aerospace Engineering for university students and lecturers, aerodynamics researchers, aerospace engineers, aircraft designers and manufacturers.

Foundations of Circulation Control Based Small-Scale Unmanned Aircraft

Foundations of Circulation Control Based Small-Scale Unmanned Aircraft
Author: Konstantinos Kanistras
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 147
Release: 2017-11-02
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319678523

This book focuses on using and implementing Circulation Control (CC) - an active flow control method used to produce increased lift over the traditionally used systems, like flaps, slats, etc. - to design a new type of fixed-wing unmanned aircraft that are endowed with improved aerodynamic efficiency, enhanced endurance, increased useful payload (fuel capacity, battery cells, on-board sensors) during cruise flight, delayed stall, and reduced runway during takeoff and landing. It presents the foundations of a step-by-step comprehensive methodology from design to implementation and experimental testing of Coandǎ based Circulation Control Wings (CCWs) and CC system, both integral components of the new type of aircraft, called Unmanned Circulation Control Air Vehicle. The methodology is composed of seven coupled phases: theoretical and mathematical analysis, design, simulation, 3-D printing/prototyping, wind tunnel testing, wing implementation and integration, and flight testing. The theoretical analysis focuses on understanding the physics of the flow and on defining the design parameters of the geometry restrictions of the wing and the plenum. The design phase centers on: designs of Coandǎ surfaces based on wing geometry specifications; designing and modifying airfoils from well-known ones (NACA series, Clark-Y, etc.); plenum designs for flow uniformity; dual radius flap designs to delay flow separation and reduce cruise drag. The simulation phase focuses on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis and simulations, and on calculating lift and drag coefficients of the designed CCWs in a simulation environment. 3-D printing and prototyping focuses on the actual construction of the CCWs. Wind tunnel testing centers on experimental studies in a laboratory environment. One step before flight testing is implementation of the qualified CCW and integration on the UAV platform, along with the CC system. Flight testing is the final phase, where design validation is performed. This book is the first of its kind, and it is suitable for students and researchers interested in the design and development of CCWs for small-scale aircraft. Background knowledge on fundamental Aerodynamics is required.

Active Flow Control on Cambered Airfoils at Ultralow Reynolds Using Synthetic Jets

Active Flow Control on Cambered Airfoils at Ultralow Reynolds Using Synthetic Jets
Author: Pau Valdepeñas Pujol
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2017
Genre:
ISBN:

Active flow control methods have been widely studied for more than a decade in order to improve the airfoil's efficiency. This study is focused on fluidic actuation (the addition or subtraction of momentum to/from the boundary layer by blowing and/or sucking fluid). A synthetic jet is a very particular type of fluidic actuation that involves periodic blowing and suction with zero-net-mass-flow over a the full period. Its success as an active flow control device has been extensively reported by several authors. As it can be seen synthetic jet technology provides good results on boundary layer reattachment and therefore, an improvement on the airfoil's efficiency. What is more, is a generic system that can be widespread on multiple types of airfoils such as unmanned aerial vehicles and conventional airplanes airfoils. The effectiveness of control in mitigating boundary separation depends on a number of parameters related both to the flow itself and the control input such as: frequency and amplitude of the excitation, the excitation shape, exit diameter and cavity shape. Since the synthetic jet system has several degrees of freedom and the flux is unpredictable, multiple simulations have to be done in order to assess the best configuration to achieve the maximum airfoil's efficiency. The well-known excitation of the synthetic jet is the zero-net-mass-flow that combines both expulsion and suction periodically. In this study, we also evaluate other types of excitations that imply more or less energy into the system that is characterized with the momentum coefficient. The goal is to assess thoroughly this existent trade-off between the aerodynamics performance and the momentum coefficient. And finally, extract deep conclusions and assess the best synthetic jet configuration where the aerodynamics performances are improved with a low momentum coefficient.. To extract suitably conclusions we pass through a thorough and intricate process that starts with the adapted and generic discretized surface for the synthetic jet that we use to solve the Navier-Stokes equations, then the appropriate conversions to simulate with spectral element framework Nektar++ and finally the detailed extraction of results. Moreover, we adopt to this study a practical approach with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV Skywalker x6) airfoil's photogrammetry that we use to simulate.

Active Flow Control

Active Flow Control
Author: Rudibert King
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 441
Release: 2007-05-31
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3540714383

This book contains contributions presented at the Active Flow Control 2006 conference, held September 2006, at the Technische Universität Berlin, Germany. It contains a well balanced combination of theoretical and experimental state-of-the-art results of Active Flow Control. Coverage combines new developments in actuator technology, sensing, robust and optimal open- and closed-loop control and model reduction for control.