Technical Papers
Mar 31, 2011

Design and Analysis of a Light Cargo UAV Prototype

Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 25, Issue 2

Abstract

A light cargo unmanned air vehicle (UAV) was designed, constructed, and tested in flight. This UAV was designed and built according to the specifications of the Air Cargo Challenge 2009 Design, Build & Fly European student competition. The basic aerodynamic and stability analysis that was used in the preliminary phase of the light UAV design is presented first. Flight stability analysis based on the linearized theory was performed next. Preliminary aerodynamic analysis based on Navier-Stokes solutions for wing and wing-body configurations during the design phase was carried out. Further aerodynamic analysis for the full configuration after the design was completed was carried out to evaluate the performance during the flight envelope. The findings of this analysis could be utilized to further improve the aerodynamics of the existing design and enhance stability and performance characteristics of the light cargo UAV. The conceptual design was constructed and successfully tested.

Get full access to this article

View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.

References

Anderson, J. A. Jr. (2001). Fundamentals of aerodynamics, 3rd Ed., McGraw-Hill, New York.
BETA CAE Systems S.A. (2009). “ANSA user’s guide.” ANSA v13.0.2 documentation, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Bradley, T. H., Moffitt, B. A., Fuller, T. F., Mavris, D. N., and, Parekh, D. E. (2009). “Comparison of design methods for fuel-cell-powered unmanned aerial vehicles.” J. Aircr., 46(6), 1945–1956.JAIRAM
Dassault Systemes. (2007). CATIA V5 user manual, Velizy Villacoublay, France.
Dogan, A., and Venkataramanan, S. (2005). “Modeling of aerodynamic coupling between aircraft in close proximity.” J. Aircr., 42(4), 941–955.JAIRAM
Dufresne, S., Johnson, C., and Mavris, D. N. (2008). “Variable fidelity conceptual design environment for revolutionary unmanned aerial vehicles.” J. Aircr., 45(4), 1405–1418.JAIRAM
Fluent, Inc. (2006). FLUENT 6.3 users guide Lebanon, NH.
Gur, O., Mason, W. H., and Schetz, J. A. (2009). “Full configuration drag estimation.” AIAA Paper 2009–4109, 27th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conf., American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA.
Harmon, F. G., Frank, A. A., and Chattot, J. J. (2006). “Conceptual design and simulation of a small hybrid-electric unmanned aerial vehicle.” J. Aircr., 43(5), 1490–1498.JAIRAM
Hsiao, F. B., Chan, W. L., Lai, Y. C., Tseng, L. C., Hsieh, S. Y., and Tenn, H. K. (2007). “Landing longitudinal control system design for a fixed wing UAV.” AIAA Paper 2007–868, 45th AIAA ASM, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA.
Kim, C., and Lee, J. Y. (2007), “Numerical analysis of hovering tilt-rotor UAV for minimum download and ground effect analysis.” AIAA Paper 2007-1400, 45th AIAA ASM, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA.
Langtry, R., and Menter, F. R. (2005). “Transition modeling for general CFD applications in aeronautics.” AIAA Paper 2005-522, 43rd AIAA ASM, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA.
Lorenz, R. D. (2001). “Flight power scaling of airplanes, airships, and helicopters: Application to planetary exploration.” J. Aircr., 38(2), 208–214.JAIRAM
Menter, F. R., Langtry, R., and Völker, S. (2006). “Transition modelling for general purpose CFD codes.” Flow, Turbul. Combust.FTCOF9, 77(1–4), 277–303.
Moyer, S. A., and Talbot, M. D. (1994). “Wind-tunnel test techniques for unmanned aerial vehicle separation investigations.” J. Aircr., 31(3), 585–590.JAIRAM
Nagel, A., Levy, D. E., and Shepshelovich, M. (2006). “Conceptual aerodynamic evaluation of MINI/MICRO UAV.” AIAA Paper 2006–1261, 44th AIAA ASM, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA.
Nagel, A., and Shepshelovich, M. ( 2006). “Development of high-lift UAV wings.” AIAA Paper 2006-3467, 24th Applied Aerodynamics Conf., American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA.
Prudente, D. M., and Cavalieri, A. V. G. (2007). “Tail and control surface sizing for UAVs.” AIAA 20074557, 25th Applied Aerodynamics Conf., American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA.
Roskam, J. (1985). Airplane design, Roskam Aviation & Eng. Corp., Lawrence, KS.
Roskam, J., and Lan, C.-T. E. (1997). Airplane aerodynamics & performance, DAR Corp., Lawrence, KS.
Sadraey, M., and Colgren, R. (2007)“A systems engineering approach to the design of control surfaces for UAVs.” AIAA Paper 2007-660, 45th AIAA ASM, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA.
Shafer, T. C., and Green, B. E. (2010). “CFD generation of flight databases for UAVs for use in the flight certification air-worthiness process.” AIAA Paper 2010-1037, 48th AIAA ASM, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA.
Simons, M. (1994). Model aircraft aerodynamics, Argus Books, Herts, England.
Spalart, P., and Allmaras, S. (1992). “A one-equation turbulence model for aerodynamic flows.” AIAA Paper 92-0439, 30th AIAA ASM, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA.
Stone, R. H. (2008). “Aerodynamic modeling of the wing-propeller interaction for a tail-sitter unmanned air vehicle.” J. Aircr., 45(1), pp. 198–209.JAIRAM
Wick, A. T., Zink, G. A., Ruszkowski, R. A. Jr., and Shih, T. I. P. (2007). “Computational simulation of an unmanned air vehicle impacting water.” AIAA Paper 2007-70, 45th AIAA ASM, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA.

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 25Issue 2April 2012
Pages: 228 - 237

History

Received: Sep 8, 2010
Accepted: Mar 29, 2011
Published online: Mar 31, 2011
Published in print: Apr 1, 2012

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Authors

Affiliations

Anastasios P. Kovanis [email protected]
Student, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Dept., School of Engineering, Univ. of Patras, 26500, Patras, Greece. E-mail: [email protected]
Vangelis Skaperdas [email protected]
Engineer, BETA CAE Systems S.A., Thessaloniki, Greece. E-mail: [email protected]
John A. Ekaterinaris [email protected]
Professor, Mechanical & Aerospace Dept., School of Engineering, Univ. of Patras, 26500, Patras, and FORTH/IACM, Greece (corresponding author). E-mail: [email protected]

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Download citation

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

Cited by

View Options

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Copy the content Link

Share with email

Email a colleague

Share