Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effects of morphing on the aeroelastic behaviour of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) wings to make an emphasis on the required aeroelastic tailoring starting from the conceptual design of the morphing mechanisms. Design/methodology/approach-In this study, flutter and divergence characteristics of a fully morphing wing design were discussed to show the dilapidating effect of morphing on the related parameters. The morphing wings were intended to achieve a high efficiency at different flight phases; thus, various morphing concepts were integrated into a UAV wing structure. Although it is considered beneficial to have the morphing capabilities to avoid the failure due to a possible wear out in flutter and divergence parameters; it is necessary to include the aeroelastic analyses at the early design phases. This study utilizes a combination of a reduced order structural model and Theodorsen unsteady aerodynamic model as primary analyses tools for flutter and divergence. The analyses were conducted by using an in-house developed pk-algorithm coupled with a commercial finite element analysis (FEA) tool. This approach yielded a fast solution capacity because of the state-space form used. Findings-Analyses conducted showed that transition between takeoff , climb, cruise and loiter phases yield a change in the flutter and divergence speeds as high as 138 and 305 per cent, respectively. Practical implications-The research showed that an extensive aeroelastic investigation was required for morphing wing designs to achieve a failure safe design. Originality/value-The research intends to highlight the possible deteriorating effects on structural design of morphing UAV wings by focusing on the aeroelastic characteristics. In addition to that, fundamental morphing concepts are compared in terms of the order of magnitude of their deteriorating effects.
In this study, the detailed finite element model (FEM) of an unmanned aerial vehicle wing torque box was verified by the experimental modal testing. During the computational studies the free-free boundary conditions were used and the natural frequencies and mode-shapes of the structure were obtained by using the MSC® Software. The results were then compared with the experimentally obtained resonance frequencies and mode-shapes. It was observed that the frequencies were in close agreement having an error within the range of 1.5–3.6%.
Cavitation is mostly unwanted in applications due to its unpredictable and distorting effect on fluid flow. On the other hand, its modelling is expensive in terms of time and computational power in general. Regarding this a tendency for using an open source software such as OpenFOAM is emerging as a promising tool for both predicting and analyzing cavity formation. In this study, validation and verification of an OpenFOAM solver is investigated for cavitation in microchannels. Experiments are carried out as well for comparison with computational results. During the experiments the cavity formation was efficiently captured by observing the fluorescent particle flow. Overall, computational and experimental results are compared to investigate the capability of OpenFoam for the chosen conditions.
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