Purpose

This study aims to investigate the effects of propeller locations on the aerodynamic characteristics of a generic 55° swept angle sharp-edged delta wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) model.

Design/methodology/approach

A generic delta-winged UAV model has been designed and fabricated to investigate the aerodynamic properties of the model when the propeller is placed at three different locations. In this research, the propeller has been placed at three different positions on the wing, namely, front, middle and rear. The experiments were conducted in a closed-circuit low-speed wind tunnel at speeds of 20 and 25 m/s corresponding to 0.6 × 10⁶ and 0.8 × 10⁶ Reynolds numbers, respectively. The propeller speed was set at constant 6,000 RPM and the angles of attack were varied from 0° to 20° for all cases. During the experiment, two measurement techniques were used on the wing, which were the steady balance measurement and surface pressure measurement.

Findings

The results show that the locations of the propeller have significant influence on the lift, drag and pitching moment of the UAV. Another important observation obtained from this study is that the location of the propeller can affect the development of the vortex and vortex breakdown. The results also show that the propeller advance ratio can also influence the characteristics of the primary vortex developed on the wing. Another main observation was that the size of the primary vortex decreases if the propeller advance ratio is increased.

Practical implications

There are various forms of UAVs, one of them is in the delta-shaped planform. The data obtained from this experiment can be used to understand the aerodynamic properties and best propeller locations for the similar UAV aircrafts.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, the surface pressure data available for a non-slender delta-shaped UAV model is limited. The data presented in this paper would provide a better insight into the flow characteristics of generic delta winged UAV at three different propeller locations.

中文翻译：

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通用三角翼无人机模型的螺旋桨位置研究

目的

这项研究旨在研究螺旋桨位置对通用55°后掠角锐边三角翼无人机（UAV）模型的空气动力学特性的影响。

设计/方法/方法

设计并制造了通用的三角翼无人机模型，以研究将螺旋桨放置在三个不同位置时模型的空气动力学特性。在这项研究中，螺旋桨已被放置在机翼的三个不同位置，即前，中和后。实验在闭路低速风洞中以20和25 m / s的速度分别对应于0.6×10 ⁶和0.8×10 ⁶雷诺数进行。螺旋桨速度设置为恒定的6,000 RPM，所有情况下的迎角都从0°变为20°。在实验过程中，机翼采用了两种测量技术，即稳定平衡测量和表面压力测量。

发现

结果表明，螺旋桨的位置对无人机的升力，阻力和俯仰力矩有重要影响。从这项研究中获得的另一个重要发现是，螺旋桨的位置会影响涡旋的发展和涡旋的破裂。结果还表明，螺旋桨前进比还可以影响机翼上形成的初级涡旋的特性。另一个主要观察结果是，如果推进器推进比增加，则初级涡旋的大小减小。

实际影响

无人机有多种形式，其中一种是三角形状的平面形式。从该实验中获得的数据可用于了解类似无人机的空气动力学特性和最佳螺旋桨位置。

创意/价值

据作者所知，非细长三角型无人机模型可用的表面压力数据有限。本文中提供的数据可以更好地了解通用三角翼无人机在三个不同螺旋桨位置的流动特性。