CFD Analysis on Aerodynamic Coefficients of Flying Saucer

N Ruseno

doi:10.47355/avia.v3i1.38

Abstract

With the growing of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) usage, many new types of UAV are introduced. Flying Saucer is a new type of UAV which is not yet famous in the market. The aim of this study is to analysis the aerodynamic coefficients of a Flying Saucer. The research question arise is What the optimum angle of attack for Flying Saucer flight is. The study is conducted in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) using COMSOL Multiphysics with Laminar Flow physics for several angles of attack. The analysis considers Lift and Drag coefficient in the form of 𝐶𝐿 and 𝐶𝐷 to angle of attack (α) plot, ratio of 𝐶𝐿/𝐶𝐷 to angle of attack (α) plot and drag polar plot. We conclude that a symmetric Flying Sauce has aerodynamic characteristic with the optimum operational angle of attack in the range of 8 to 16 deg. The 𝐶𝐷 and 𝐶𝐿 has a quadratic relationship with large 𝐶𝐷0 due to the geometric of Flying Saucer. It recommends that further study should explore in the area of zero and maximum angle of attack (α) and validation in wind tunnel experiment.

Highlights

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) grows significantly in recent years
We found only 4 publications which all of them used Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods and we can categorize it based on the geometry used as Flying Saucer and Coanda Saucer
It shows the air flow in the form of streamlines, the pressure on the surface of Flying Saucer is visualize in contour surface and the pressure on Symmetry boundary shown in blue line

Summary

Introduction

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) grows significantly in recent years. It becomes part of our daily life in many aspects such as photography, survey, monitoring, search & rescue, delivery, etc. The data from the US commercial drone market shows a linear grow from 2014 at around 300 million USD until 2020 at around 850 million USD and predicted to be continued [1]. There are many types of UAV currently available in the market such as multi-copter, fixed wing, e-VTOL, etc. The research on UAV is growing, many types of UAV and its technology is developed to suit the market. One of the new UAV types is a Flying Saucer. The first one is mass conservation equation:. The second is Navier-Stokes equation: ρ ∂v⃗

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion