Aerodynamic Optimization of a Micro Quadrotor Aircraft with Different Rotor Spacings in Hover

Yao Lei,Hengda Wang

doi:10.3390/app10041272

Abstract

In order to study the aerodynamic performance of the quadrotor with different rotor spacings in hover, experiments were performed together with numerical simulations. For experimental study, an experimental platform was designed to measure the thrust and power consumption of the quadrotor with different rotor spacings (L/R = 2.2, 2.6, 3.0, 3.2, 3.6, and 4.0), and to attempt to find out the optimal rotor configuration which makes the quadrotor have the best aerodynamic performance. In addition, the pressure distribution, vorticity of the blade tip, and velocity vector of quadrotor in the flow field were obtained by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method to visually analyze the aerodynamic interference between adjacent rotors. By the comparison of experimental results and numerical simulations, the final results show that the aerodynamic performance of the quadrotor varies obviously with the change of rotor spacing, and it has a negative impact on hover efficiency if rotor spacing is too much small or large. The rotors pacing at L/R = 3.6 with larger thrust and smaller power is considered to be the best aerodynamic configuration for the quadrotor with better aerodynamic characteristics. Furthermore, compared with the isolated rotor, moderate aerodynamic interference is proved to help improve the aerodynamic performance of the quadrotor with a larger thrust, especially for a rotor spacing at L/R = 3.6.

Highlights

IntroductionMicro unmanned aerial vehicles (MAVs) offer numerous inherent utilities and exciting new capabilities, they offer numerous challenges in design, stemming from their small scale
Micro unmanned aerial vehicles (MAVs) have been predicted to be the emerging generation of aerospace systems, with many potential applications in both civilian and military missions [1,2,3,4,5]. MAVs offer numerous inherent utilities and exciting new capabilities, they offer numerous challenges in design, stemming from their small scale
The main difficulty in achieving a better performance with multi-rotors comes from the large hover power requirements caused by strong rotor interference

Summary

Introduction

MAVs offer numerous inherent utilities and exciting new capabilities, they offer numerous challenges in design, stemming from their small scale. From aerodynamic performance to the number of moving parts, each MAV configuration faces design challenges. The main difficulty in achieving a better performance with multi-rotors comes from the large hover power requirements caused by strong rotor interference. Since rotor wakes will produce the phenomena of distortion, winding and crushing due to the induction between wakes, which affects the aerodynamic performance of the quadrotor aircraft, appropriate rotor spacing should be selected wisely to reduce aerodynamic interference for the structural design of the quadrotor aircraft [6,7]

Methods

Results

Conclusion