The influence of rotor downwash on spray distribution under a quadrotor unmanned aerial system

Abstract

• Computational Fluid Dynamics model of sprays interaction with propeller airflow. • CFD model for multi nozzle/propeller crop sprayer, crosswind and forward flight. • Experimental validation of CFD model using a spray pattonator. • CFD model can be used to model the distribution of the spray’s impact with the crop. • Modelled distributions can be used for spray mission planners. • Spray distribution heavily effected by propeller downwash. • Higher propeller thrust leads to a peakier and less uniform distribution. This paper investigates how sprays are influenced by rotor downwash produced by a quadrotor Unmanned Aerial System when crop spraying. Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations, using RANS modelling for the flow field and Lagrangian particle tracking for the spray, are conducted for several single-rotor and multi-rotor cases with the spray injected underneath the centre of the rotor. The rotor is modelled using a Blade Element actuator disc model. The accuracy of the computational approach is demonstrated by good agreement with experiment for both thrust and deposited spray pattern for a single rotor in an indoor environment. Both the experimental and computational results show that the peak in the spray distribution under a single rotor increases as rotor thrust increases, whilst increasing the rotor height above the ground causes this peak to decrease. The validated Computational Fluid Dynamics method is then used to simulate flight conditions for single-rotor and multi-rotor cases. These show the existence of a critical flight speed, above which the spray impinging on the ground no longer contains a notable peak. This behaviour is seen to be due to the streamtube detaching from the ground and no longer carrying the spray directly to the ground plane. Above this critical speed the spray is seen to become suspended in the air behind the Unmanned Aerial System. This behaviour makes realistic simulation more difficult, as details of the ambient turbulence conditions would be needed to model the subsequent spray transport. The reliance on turbulence to transport the spray is undesirable from a practical point of view due to the increased likelihood of significant spray drift.