Use of XFOIL in design of camber‐controlled morphing UAVs

Abstract

AbstractThe standard curriculum for Aerospace Engineering students at the University of Cincinnati includes AEEM361 Integrated Aircraft Engineering. The goal of this course is to instruct students in the tools and methodology of aircraft design. The integrated aspects of aircraft design are underscored by introducing pre‐junior (between sophomore and junior) students to the state‐of‐the‐art morphing technology, inspired by bat and bird flight, which can enable an aircraft to adapt its shape to best suit the flight condition thereby enhancing mission performance. In this article, we present the development of unique software tools, which provide undergraduates an opportunity to design airfoils for morphing aircraft. Morphing is introduced in the form of “on demand” camber as well as sweep change with the aim of improving aerodynamic efficiency for a multi‐objective (several design points) mission profile. The Global Hawk UAV mission in general and its LRN1015 airfoil in particular is in focus due to the relative long mission times spent at the two different flight conditions, namely high‐speed dash and low‐speed loiter. We are using several tools to virtually simulate a morphing wing including XFOIL to perform fast and relatively accurate two‐dimensional steady‐flow simulations of different morphed configurations using a camber‐controlled morphed wing to maneuver. In this article we detail AeroMorph, the educational MATLAB‐based tool developed for design of a camber‐controlled morphing of airfoils with the aim of improving aerodynamic efficiency and exploration of the basic relationships between flap deflection and airfoil morphing based on a camber change. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 20: 673–680, 2012