Propeller Slipstream Effects on the Aerodynamics Characteristics of a Transition Micro Air Vehicle

Document Type : Regular Article

Authors

Department of Aerospace Engineering, Madras Institute of Technology, Anna University, Chrompet, Chennai-600 044, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of propeller slipstream on the aerodynamic characteristics of a Transition Micro Air Vehicle (TMAV). The TMAV under consideration comprises a cylindrical body, planar wing, and X-tails. Wind tunnel testing and numerical simulations were performed on TMAV configurations both with and without a propeller at various advance ratios (J = 0.45, 0.55, 0.65, and 0.75). The angle of attack ranged from -8° to +8° in increments of 4°, and from +8° to +16° in increments of 1°. The findings indicate that propeller slipstream significantly alters the flow field around the TMAV components, leading to a reduction in overall aerodynamic performance and stability. Specifically, the slipstream downwash decreased the lift and drag of the port wing and certain tails, while the slipstream upwash increased the lift and drag of the starboard wing and other tails, resulting in earlier stall occurrences under slipstream conditions. Furthermore, it was observed that aerodynamic performance improves as the propeller advance ratio decreases. The data obtained from this study elucidate the effects of propeller slipstream on the aerodynamic performance of wing and X-tail combined MAVs. Currently, there is a lack of literature addressing the effects of propeller slipstream on the aerodynamics of wing and X-tail combined MAV configurations. This study provides valuable insights into the aerodynamic behavior of this TMAV under the influence of propeller slipstream.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Ahn, J., & Lee, D. (2013). Aerodynamic characteristics of a micro air vehicle and the influence of propeller location. 31st AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2013-2655
Aminaei, H., Dehghan Manshadi, M., & Mostofizadeh, A. R. (2019). Experimental investigation of propeller slipstream effects on the wing aerodynamics and boundary layer treatment at low Reynolds number. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 233(8), 3033–3041. https://doi.org/10.1177/0954410018793703
Ananda, G. K., Deters, R. W., & Selig, M. S. (2013). Propeller induced flow effects on wings at low Reynolds numbers. 31st AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2013-3193
Ananda, G. K., Deters, R. W., & Selig, M. S. (2014, June). Propeller-induced flow effects on wings of varying aspect ratio at low reynolds numbers. 32nd AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2014-2152
Ananda, G. K., Selig, M. S., & Deters, R. W. (2018). Experiments of propeller-induced flow effects on a low-Reynolds-number wing. AIAA Journal, 56(8), 3279–3294. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.J056667
Arivoli, D., Dodamani, R., Antony, R., Suraj, C. S., Ramesh, G., & Ahmed, S. (2011, June, 1–10). Experimental Studies on a Propelled Micro Air Vehicle. 29th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference 2011. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2011-3656
Balaji, G., Pillai, S. N., & Senthil Kumar, C. (2017). Wind Tunnel Investigation of Downstream Wake Characteristics on Circular Cylinder with Various Taper Ratios. Journal of Applied Fluid Mechanics, 10 (Special Issue), 69–77. https://doi.org/10.36884/jafm.10.SI.28272
Bansal, U., Sinduraa, B. V., Panneerselvam, S., & Santhakumar, S. (2011). Design and Development of a Transitional Micro Air Vehicle. Symposium on Applied Aerodynamics and Design of Aerospace Vehicles (SAROD November - 2011).
Cao, M., Liu, K., Wang, C., Wei, J., & Qin, Z. (2023). Research on the distributed propeller slipstream effect of UAV wing based on the actuator disk method. Drones, 7(9). https://doi.org/10.3390/drones7090566
Catalano, F. M. (2004). On the effects of an installed propeller slipstream on wing aerodynamic characteristics. Acta Polytechnica, 44(3). https://doi.org/10.14311/562
Chen, G., Chen, B., Li, P., Bai, P., & Ji, C. (2015). Numerical simulation study on propeller slipstream interference of high altitude long endurance unmanned air vehicle. Procedia Engineering, 99, 361–367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2014.12.548
Chen, Z., & Yang, F. (2022). Propeller slipstream effect on aerodynamic characteristics of micro air vehicle at low reynolds number. Applied Sciences (Switzerland), 12(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/app12084092
Chinwicharnam, K., & Thipyopas, C. (2016). Comparison of wing-propeller interaction in tractor and pusher configuration. International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles, 8(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/1756829316638206
Cho, J. H. (2014). Experimental and numerical investigation of the power-on effect for a propeller-driven UAV. Aerospace Science and Technology, 36, 55–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2014.04.001
Durai, A. (2014). Experimental investigation of lift and drag characteristics of a typical MAV under propeller induced flow. International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles, 6(1), 63–72. https://doi.org/10.1260/1756-8293.6.1.63
Figat, M., & Piątkowska, P. (2020). Numerical investigation of mutual interaction between a pusher propeller and a fuselage. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 0(0), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/0954410020932796
Furusawa, Y., Kitamura, K., Ikami, T., Nagai, H., & Oyama, A. (2024). Numerical study on aerodynamic characteristics of wing within propeller slipstream at low-reynolds-number. Transactions of the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences, 67(1), 12–22. https://doi.org/10.2322/tjsass.67.12
Gabriel, S. (2013). Propeller Static & Dynamic Thrust Calculation. https://www.electricrcaircraftguy.com/2013/09/propeller-static-dynamic-thrust-equation.html.
Hassanalian, M., Khaki, H., & Khosravi, M. (2015). A new method for design of fixed wing micro air vehicle. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 229(5), 837–850. https://doi.org/10.1177/0954410014540621
Jana, S., Kandath, H., Shewale, M., & Bhat, M. S. (2020). Effect of propeller-induced flow on the performance of biplane micro air vehicle dynamics. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 234(3), 716–728. https://doi.org/10.1177/0954410019883097
Khoshnevis, A. B., Barzenoni, V., & Mamouri, A. R. (2016). Experimental study of parameters and high - order values of velocity in the behind wake of a vehicle model, Automotive Science and Engineering, 6(4), 2291-2300. https://www.iust.ac.ir/ijae/article-1-386-en.html.
Liu, Z., Albertani, R., Moschetta, J. M., Xu, M., & Thipyopas, C. (2011). Experimental and computational evaluation of small microcoaxial rotor in hover. Journal of Aircraft, 48(1), 220–229. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.C031068
Meng, X., Xu, Z., Chang, M., & Bai, J. (2023). Performance analysis and flow mechanism of channel wing considering propeller slipstream. Chinese Journal of Aeronautics, 36(11), 165–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cja.2023.06.022
Null, W., & Shkarayev, S. (2005). Effect of camber on the aerodynamics of adaptive-wing micro air vehicles. Journal of Aircraft, 42(6), 1537–1542. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.12401
Rostami, M., & Farajollahi, A. H. (2021). Aerodynamic performance of mutual interaction tandem propellers with ducted UAV. Aerospace Science and Technology, 108, 106399. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2020.106399
Sadraey, M. (2010). Unmanned Aircraft Design: A Review of Fundamentals. In Text book: Morgan & claypool Publishers (pp. 4–5). https://doi.org/10.2200/S00789ED1V01Y201707MEC004
Shams, T. A., Shah, S. I. A., Shahzad, A., Javed, A., & Mehmod, K. (2020). Experimental investigation of propeller induced flow on flying wing micro aerial vehicle for improved 6DOF modeling. IEEE Access, 8, 179626–179647. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3026005
Sharma, P., & Atkins, E. (2019). Experimental investigation of tractor and pusher hexacopter performance. Journal of Aircraft, 56(5), 1920–1934. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.C035319
Slater, J. W., Dudek, J. C., & Tatum, K. E. (2000). The NPARC alliance verification and validation archive. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Fluids Engineering Division (Publication) FED, 251(April), 1005–1012. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20000054672
Sudhakar, S., Kumar, C., Arivoli, D., Dodamani, R., & Venkatakrishnan, L. (2013, January 1–10). Experimental studies of propeller induced flow over a typical micro air vehicle. 51st AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting Including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition 2013. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2013-60
Suresh, V., Premkumar, P. S., & Senthilkumar, C. (2019). Drag reduction of non-circular cylinder at subcritical reynolds numbers. Journal of Applied Fluid Mechanics, 12(1), 187–194. https://doi.org/10.29252/jafm.75.253.28686
Teixeira, P. C., & Cesnik, C. E. S. (2019). Propeller effects on the response of high-altitude long-endurance aircraft. AIAA Journal, 57(10), 4328–4342. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.J057575
Wang, K., & Zhou, Z. (2022). An investigation on the aerodynamic performance of a hand-launched solar-powered UAV in flying wing configuration. Aerospace Science and Technology, 129, 107804. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2022.107804
Zhang, X., Zhang, W., Li, W., Zhang, X., & Lei, T. (2023). Experimental research on aero-propulsion coupling characteristics of a distributed electric propulsion aircraft. Chinese Journal of Aeronautics, 36(2), 201–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cja.2022.07.024
Zhao, S., Li, J., Jiang, Y., Qian, R., & Xu, R. (2022). Investigation of propeller slipstream effects on lateral and directional static stability of transport aircraft. Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics, 16(1), 551–569. https://doi.org/10.1080/19942060.2021.1997824

Files

Cited by

History

  • Received: 22 May 2024
  • Revised: 11 July 2024
  • Accepted: 01 October 2024
  • Available online: 01 January 2025

Share

How to cite

Statistics