Purpose The purpose of this paper is finding the optimal geometric parameters and developing of a method for optimizing a light unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) wing, maximizing, at the same time, its endurance with the assumed parameters of aircraft mission. Design/methodology/approach The research is based on the experience gained by the author’s contribution to the project of building medium-altitude, long-endurance class, light UAV called “Samonit”. The author was responsible for the structure design, wind tunnel tests and flight tests of the “Samonit” aircraft. Based on the experience, the author was able to develop an optimization process considering various disciplines involved in the whole aircraft design topics such as aerodynamics, flight mechanics, structural stiffness and weight, aircraft stability and maneuverability. The presented methodology has a multidisciplinary nature, as in the process of optimization both aerodynamic aspects and the influence of wing geometric parameters on the wing structure and weight and the aircraft payload were taken into account. The optimal wing configuration was obtained using the genetic algorithms. Findings As a result, a set of wing geometrical parameters has been obtained that allowed for achieving twice as long endurance as compared with the initial one. Practical implications Using the methodology presented in the paper, an aircraft designer can easily find the optimum wing configuration of a designed aircraft, satisfying the mission requirements in a best way. Originality/value An original procedure has been developed, based on the actual design, wind tunnel tests and numerical calculations of “Samonit” aircraft, enabling the determination of optimum wing configuration for a small unmanned aircraft.
This paper presents the optimization of multi-element aerofoil for the LAR-3 Puffin -- STOL light transport aircraft concept proposal. Based on the geometry and aerodynamic characteristics of the well-known and proven in flight three-segment NACA 63A416 aerofoil, the authors explore the possibility of enhancing its high-lift performance by the movement of slot and flap position in extended (deployed) aerodynamic configuration. In order to determine the optimum positions of aerofoil segments (elements), a multi-step optimization approach was developed. It combines computational fluid dynamics simulations that were used for design space screening and preliminary optimization together with low-turbulence wind tunnel tests which yielded certain results. To decrease the numerical cost of the computer simulation campaign, Design of experiment methods (optimal space-filling design among others) were employed instead of exhausting full factorial (parametric) design. Response surface models of major aerodynamic coefficients (lift, drag, pitching moment) at predicted maximum lift coefficient ( C L max) point allowed to narrow down search space and identify several candidates for optimal configuration to be checked experimentally. Wind tunnel tests campaign confirmed the major trends observed in computational fluid dynamics derived response surface contour plots. For the optimum aerodynamic configuration, chosen experimental C L max is over 3.9, which is a 10% increase over the baseline (initial slat and flap positions) case. In parallel, the maximum lift-to-drag ratio gain at that point was almost 19%. The research outlined in this paper was conducted on behalf of the aircraft production company and its results will be applied in a newly designed transport aircraft.
The object of the static strength analysis presented in the following paper is an aerobatic airplane Harnaś-3. It is a new generation of an aerobatic airplane and its unusual arrangement makes it possible to make aerobatic maneuvers that are not possible to do by other airplanes. The untypical arrangement of the aerobatic plane Harnaś-3 causes that the strength analysis of its structure is particularly complex. A spatially developed structure requires a comprehensive approach, taking into account both the specific properties of composite materials and the need to analyze the strength ratio for various cases of external loads, appropriate for aviation regulations. The methodology presented in this article allowed to improve the structure of the Harnaś-3 aircraft to reach the weight of a complete structure of only 235 kg, which allows building an aircraft lighter than the competitors.
Rapid evolutions in fields such as aerospace propulsion, materials engineering, geometry modelling tools or optimization tools provide the opportunity to search for novel configurations of future aircraft in an expanding domain. In order to effectively explore the space of variables of constantly expanding size, one needs tools that give the ability to automate this process. Such a tool is the Future Aircraft Sizing Tool for Overall Aircraft Design or FAST-OAD. FAST-OAD allows for rapid estimation of aircraft size, based on set, so-called Top Level Aircraft Requirements (TLARs) by using multi-disciplinary and multi-fidelity analysis and optimization. An essential component of such a system is a module capable of modelling the external geometry of the calculated case. This article describes an attempt to use a powerful commercial Computer Aided Design software, Siemens NX, to model the aircraft external geometry based on the results of the analysis performed by FAST-OAD. This approach, compared to previous works, brings some limitations but, on the other hand, gives the possibility to base the geometry on a mathematically consistent model and helps to better understand the set of parameters necessary to describe the geometry correctly. The main objective of this research is to provide a tool that allows the automatic generation of aircraft exterior geometry based on the output parameters received from the FAST-OAD package. An additional goal of this activity is to determine the parameter set necessary to properly define the external geometry, but at the same time not containing redundant, dependent geometric parameters. The minimum number of independent parameters necessary to completely describe the external geometry is sought.
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