Aerodynamic Design, Analysis and Validation of a Small Blended-Wing-Body Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Kelei Wang,Zhou Zhou

doi:10.3390/aerospace9010036

Abstract

This paper describes the aerodynamic design and assessment of a blended-wing–body (BWB) configuration under the distributed electric propulsion (DEP) installation constraints. The aerodynamic design rationale and process is described, as well as how the DEP system is considered and simplified in the optimization design process. Both the BWB configuration and the DEP induced effects are numerically simulated and analyzed using the Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) flow solvers. To further demonstrate the feasibility and reliability of the design approach, the wind tunnel tests of a scaled model of the designed BWB configuration are carried out, and both the aerodynamic characteristics and the BWB surface flow are measured and analyzed. The results indicate the reliability and feasibility of the optimization design method introduced in this paper.

Highlights

With the rapid air-traffic demand and growth as well as the increasing environmental problems, many technology paths have been explored to improve civil aircraft flight efficiency and reduce the fuel consumption, among which the combination of distributed electric propulsion (DEP) and blended-wing–body (BWB) has attracted much attention
Compared with the traditional civil aircraft, the DEP-based BWB configuration has the ability to highly integrate the propulsors and the airframe for enhancement of the aeropropulsion integration benefits, and has shown great potential in vehicle efficiency improvements, propulsion efficiency improvements and noise pollution reductions [1,2,3]; it has become a new research hotspot of aviation field in recent years, and a wide number of studies have been carried out to deal with issues related to aerodynamics, structures and propulsion systems of the DEP-based BWB conceptual aircrafts
Michael et al [6,7] carried out both computational and experimental study of the aero-propulsive coupling effects of a set of boundary-layer ingesting (BLI) fans mounted near the trailing-edge (TE) of a wing; the results revealed that significant interactions exist between the sectional aerodynamic performance and thrust level, and the changes of the stream-wise and stream-normal forces lift, drag, and pitching moment varies nonlinearly as a function of angle of attack and fan throttle setting

Summary

Introduction

With the rapid air-traffic demand and growth as well as the increasing environmental problems, many technology paths have been explored to improve civil aircraft flight efficiency and reduce the fuel consumption, among which the combination of distributed electric propulsion (DEP) and blended-wing–body (BWB) has attracted much attention. Sebastian and Tomas [8] make a series of propulsion system optimizations for an aircraft concept with fuselage boundary layer ingestion, resulting in a net reduction in mission fuel burn of 0.6%~3.6% depending on technology assumption All these efforts have shown that mutual interferences between the DEP system and the BWB airframe can be used to achieve. Aerospace 2022, 9, x Aerospace 2022, 9, 36 fuselage boundary layer ingestion, resulting in a net reduction in mission fuel bu2ronf 1o8f 0.6%~3.6% depending on technology assumption All these efforts have shown that mutual interferences between the DEP system and the BWB airframe can be used to achieve ssiiggnniifificcaannttiimmpprroovveemmeennttssiinnbbootthhaaeerrooddyynnaammiicceefffificciieennccyyaanndd pprrooppuullssiivveeeefffificciieennccyy,,eevveenn tthhoouugghh sseerriieess ooffpprroobblleemmss,, ssuucchh aasstthheerraatthheerrhhiigghhffuueellccoonnssuummppttiioonn ooffssmmaallllttuurrbbooffaann eennggiinneessaannddtthheelloowwwweeiigghhtteefffificciieennccyyooffddiissttrriibbuutteedd mmoottoorrss,, ssttiillll eexxiisstt ffoorr tthhee ttiimmee bbeeiinngg.

Sectional Airfoil Parameterization

Findings

Mesh Generation and CFD Solver