Investigation and Improvement of Pusher-Propeller Installation Effect for Flying Wing UAV

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This paper presents a collaborative experimental and numerical research to investigate the influences of the installation of propeller on aircraft aerodynamic performance, and two approaches to mitigate the propeller installation effect are also analyzed. The configuration under investigation is based on a real flying wing unmanned aerial vehicle with a two-bladed pusher-propeller mounted on the aft part of its associated airframe. Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes simulations coupled with a structured finite-volume cell-vertex based solver are applied to propeller uninstalled and installed configurations, and the numerical results are shown to be in good agreement with the experimental data. The comparative results obtained through prop-uninstalled and prop-installed cases show that the installation of the pusher-propeller leads to the decline of the maximum lift-drag ratio due to aerodynamic interactions between the propeller and airframe. Detailed analysis of the numerical results highlighted that the low pressure areas on the aft part of the airframe generated by the installation of the pusher-propeller will result in an increase of the base drag and hence a decline of the maximum lift-drag ratio. The feasibilities of center shaft extension and the modification of airframe geometry to mitigate the propeller installation effect are verified by numerical simulations, and results showed that proper propeller–airframe spacing and good designs of airframe geometry can effectively improve the flow characteristic and reduce the drag induced by propeller installation effect.

참고문헌 (Reference)

1 Stuermer A, "Unsteady CFD simulations of propeller installation effects" 2006

2 Thompson DJ, "The design and construction of a blended wing body UAV" 2011

3 Sinnige T, "Pusher-propeller installation effects in angular inflow" 2016

4 Merchant MP, "Propeller performance measurement for low Reynolds number UAV applications" 2006

5 Sinnige T, "Mitigation of pusherpropeller installation effects by pylon trailing-edge blowing" 54 (54): 293-300, 2017

6 Frarello G, "Experimental and numerical study of the propeller/fixed wings interaction" 28 (28): 365-373, 1991

7 Schouten TJE, "Effect of propeller installation on performance indicators of regional turboprop aircraft" 2019

8 Khan W, "Development and validation of a propeller slipstream model for unmanned aerial vehicles" 52 (52): 1986-1994, 2015

9 Fisher ZC, "Design and manufacturing of a coaxial-rotor fixed-wing VTOL UAV" 2018

10 Standridge Z, "Design and development of a low-cost delivery and mapping UAV suitable for production and operation in low resource environments" 2018

11 Yin J, "Coupled uRANS and FW-H analysis of installed pusher propeller aircraft configurations" 2009

12 Gern FH, "Conceptual design and structural analysis of an open rotor hybrid wing body aircraft" 2013

13 Michael AP, "CFL3D, FUN3D, and NSU3D contributions to the fifth drag prediction workshop" 51 (51): 1269-1283, 2014

14 Santiago A, "Aerodynamic study of a pusher-propeller effects on a simple flap" 2016

15 Dave P. Witkowski, "Aerodynamic interaction between propellers and wings" American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) 26 (26): 829-836, 1989

16 Yin J, "Aerodynamic and aeroacoustic analysis of installed pusher-propeller aircraft configurations" 49 (49): 1424-1433, 2012

17 Choi S, "A computational study on the aerodynamic influence of a pusher propeller on a MAV" 2016