Modeling and Analysis of Active Turbulators on Low Reynolds Number Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

turbulators;performance;UAV;trips;low Reynolds number

Short, SethRyan ; Dr. Larry Silverberg, Committee Member,Dr, Pierre A. Gremaud, Committee Member,Dr. Ashok Gopalarathnam, Committee Chair,Short, SethRyan ; Dr. Larry Silverberg ; Committee Member ; Dr ; Pierre A. Gremaud ; Committee Member ; Dr. Ashok Gopalarathnam ; Committee Chair

University:North Carolina State University

关键词: turbulators;    performance;    UAV;    trips;    low Reynolds number;   

Others  :  https://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/bitstream/handle/1840.16/1711/etd.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

美国|英语

来源: null

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACTSETH RYAN SHORT. Modeling and Analysis of Active Turbulators on Low Reynolds Number Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. (Under the direction of Dr. AshokGopalarathnam.)The current research explores an approach for obtaining performance gains onsmall unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operating in a low Reynolds number flightregime. Performance gains are sought through the use of an adaptive “tripping†or turbulator system for reduction of the drag resulting from laminar separationbubbles. Because laminar bubbles change in strength and chordwise locationwith changes in aircraft operating conditions, an adaptive bubble-control systemis necessary to eliminate or reduce the adverse effects of the bubble over a largespeed range. In the current effort, the active system is modeled using the conceptof an active ideal turbulator. This active ideal turbulator model, developed inthe current effort, is implemented using the XFOIL code. The results from thismodel are compared with experiments for fixed and active turbulators and it isshown that the model is sufficiently good for use in assessing the impact of thetechnology.The effect of the drag reduction on the aircraft performance is studied in thiseffort using three notional unmanned aerial vehicles of different sizes. For this pur-pose, models for determining the aircraft drag and power-system characteristicshave been developed. The improvements in aircraft endurance, range and rate ofclimb are studied. The results show that the active system can be used to achievesignificant performance improvements when the bubble drag on the baseline air-foil is large. Results are also presented for the weight and power-consumptionpenalties of the active system at which the drag-reduction benefits are negated.