Study of the influence of turbulent flows on the aerodynamic performance of fixed-wing aircraft type UAV MALE

Abstract

A study of the air behavior in the near-wake region of the NACA0012 airfoil infinite wing model at low Reynolds numbers was conducted. The study consisted of comparing the results obtained from experiments with those from numerical simulations. The numerical results of the velocity profiles in the near-wake region showed good agreement with those provided by the PIV system for most of the simulations and those in the literature. In addition, boundary layer separation and reattachment forming a laminar separation bubble along the airfoil was captured using simulations in Ansys Fluent and compared with a literature database to better confirm the simulation results. The UAVs have a complex cross-section shape of the fuselage. The second part of this paper explores the aerodynamic consequences of its shape, at the operational flight ceiling, in a comparative approach for three different fuselage designs.