Propeller Slipstream Effect on Aerodynamic Characteristics of Micro Air Vehicle at Low Reynolds Number

Abstract

A numerical investigation on propeller-induced flow effects in tractor configurations on a Zimmerman wing-fuselage using the cambered thin airfoil is presented in this paper. The Reynolds number based on the mean aerodynamic chord was 1.3 × 105. Significant aerodynamic performance benefits could be found for a propeller in the tractor configuration. The numerical results showed that the propeller slipstream effect on the wings was highly dependent on the size of the propeller, and the major slipstream effect was working at 60% inboard wingspan, whereas less effects were observed towards the wingtip. The propeller slipstream increased the local angle of attack on the up-going blade side. This effect simultaneously augmented the section lift. The unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) simulations helped to improve understanding of the interaction of the propeller wake and the wing-fuselage, which is an important aspect to guide the design of future efficient and controllable micro air vehicles. The results indicated that, in MAV designs, the slipstream from the propeller had a significant effect on the wing aerodynamics, regarding both performance and stability of the vehicle.

Stall nonlinear aeroelastic effects and active control of thin-walled composite blade with piezoelectric patches embedded

“…With the strip theory assumption, a methodology is used to solve the nonlinear integral expressions Q PN at the right-hand-side terms in equation (18). For the strip theory, when the extension deformation along blade span is neglected, the blade can be exactly divided into N spanwise aerodynamic sections:…”

“…Based on the strip theory, the nonlinear term in the aerodynamic formula of the equation is also expressed in the form of strip. Inserting equation (19) into equation (18), combining the aerodynamic variables in the aerodynamic formula of equations ( 12)-( 16), and assuming…”

“…Feedback gains k p and k d can be tuned by the optimal PD controller. So M PN and C PN are written in equation (18) as…”

“…17 The unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations helped to improve understanding of the interaction of the turbine wake and the blade body or airfoil-fuselage, which is an important aspect to guide the design of future efficient and controllable blades or air vehicles. 18 The loosely coupled method was used for the research of nonlinear aeroelastic problems. The Navier-Stokes equations were solved for fluid domain computation, and the nonlinear finite element method was adopted for solid domain computation, with the data exchange program and mesh regeneration progress adopted for fluid-structure interface problem to obtain the nonlinear aerodynamic characteristics.…”

Simulation Analysis and Experimental Study on Airfoil Optimization of Low-Velocity Turbine

“…Thuerey et al [14] evaluated the accuracy of neural networks in calculating airfoil pressure and velocity distributions using a modernized U-net architecture. Chen et al [15] numerically investigated the propeller-induced flow effect. Maalouly et al [16] obtained that the transient response of the optimized turbine is faster and easier to control.…”