Estimation of Longitudinal Dynamic Stability Derivatives for a Tailless Aircraft Using Dynamic Mesh Method

Abstract

For stealth performance consideration, many UAV designs are adopting tailless lambda-shaped configurations which are likely to have unsteady dynamic characteristics. In order to control such UAVs through automatic flight control system, more accurate estimation of dynamic stability derivatives becomes essential. In this paper, dynamic stability derivatives of a tailless lambda-shaped UAV are estimated through numerically simulated forced oscillation method incorporating dynamic mesh technique. First, the methodology is validated by benchmarking the CFD results against previously published experimental results of the Standard Dynamics Model(SDM). The dependency of initial angle of attack, oscillation frequency and oscillation magnitude on the dynamic stability derivatives of a tailless UAV configuration is then studied. The results show reasonable agreements with experimental reference data and prove the validity and efficiency of the concept of using CFD to estimate the dynamic derivatives.

Estimation and Separation of Longitudinal Dynamic Stability Derivatives with Forced Oscillation Method Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

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