Computational fluid dynamics study of unconventional air vehicle configurations

2005 ◽  
Vol 109 (1097) ◽  
pp. 337-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Ramamurti ◽  
W. Sandberg ◽  
P. Vaiana ◽  
J. Kellogg ◽  
D. Cylinder
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Research Laboratory ◽  
Unstructured Grid ◽  
Micro Air Vehicles ◽  
Flapping Wings ◽  
Naval Research ◽  
Flow Solver ◽  
Air Vehicle ◽  
Grid Based

Abstract Two unconventional micro air vehicles developed by the Naval Research Laboratory are described. One of the vehicles employs flapping wings which is inspired by the flight of birds or insects but does not copy it directly. The second vehicle is a stop-rotor hybrid vehicle employing a pair of single blade, rotary/fixed wing panels, attached at their roots to separate coaxial shafts. An unstructured grid based incompressible flow solver, called feflo, is used to simulate the flow past these novel configurations in order to determine the flight characteristics of these vehicles.

Aerodynamic Interference Effect of Huge Wind Turbine Blades With Periodic Surge Motions Using Overset Grid-Based Computational Fluid Dynamics Approach

2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thanh Toan Tran ◽  
Dong-Hyun Kim ◽  
Ba Hieu Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Overset Grid ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Unsteady Aerodynamic ◽  
Rotating Blade ◽  
Floating Offshore Wind Turbines ◽  
Grid Based

The accurate prediction of unsteady aerodynamic performance and loads, for floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs), is still questionable because several conventional methods widely used for this purpose are applied in ways that violate the theoretical assumptions of their original formulation. The major objective of the present study is to investigate the unsteady aerodynamic effects for the rotating blade due to the periodic surge motions of an FOWT. This work was conducted using several numerical approaches, particularly unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with an overset grid-based approach. The unsteady aerodynamic effects that occur when an FOWT is subjected to the surge motion of its floating support platform is assumed as a sinusoidal function. The present CFD simulation based on an overset grid approach provides a sophisticated numerical model on complex flows around the rotating blades simultaneously having the platform surge motion. In addition, an in-house unsteady blade element momentum (UBEM) and the fast (fatigue, aerodynamic, structure, and turbulence) codes are also applied as conventional approaches. The unsteady aerodynamic performances and loads of the rotating blade are shown to be changed considerably depending on the amplitude and frequency of the platform surge motion. The results for the flow interaction phenomena between the oscillating motions of the rotating wind turbine blades and the generated blade-tip vortices are presented and investigated in detail.

scholarly journals Design and implementation of an unmanned aerial vehicle with self-propulsive wing

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 168781401985729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdelrahman Kasem ◽  
Ahmad Gamal ◽  
Amr Hany ◽  
Hesham Gaballa ◽  
Karim Ahmed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Wind Tunnel ◽  
Rotational Speed ◽  
Lift Coefficient ◽  
Cross Flow ◽  
Unmanned Air Vehicle ◽  
Air Vehicle ◽  
Cross Flow Fan ◽  
High Angles Of Attack

The article aims to prove the effectiveness of the proposed unmanned air vehicle design (The Propulsive Wing) through numerical and experimental means. The propulsive wing unmanned air vehicle is a completely new class of unmanned air vehicle, making disruptive changes in the aircraft industry. It is based on a distributed cross-flow electric fan propulsion system. When the fan starts to operate, the flow is drawn from the suction surface, provided by energy through the fan and expelled out of the airfoil trailing edge (TE). This causes a significant lift increase and drag reduction with respect to ordinary aircrafts, making it perfect for applications requiring low cruise speed such as firefighting, agriculture, and aerial photography. In this early stage of the investigation, our main aim is to prove that this design is applicable and the expected aerodynamic and propulsion improvements are achievable. This is done through a two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics investigation of the flow around an airfoil with an embedded cross-flow fan near its TE. A scaled wind tunnel model of the same geometry used in the computational fluid dynamics investigation was manufactured and used to perform wind tunnel testing. The computational fluid dynamics and wind tunnel results are compared for validation. Furthermore, an unmanned air vehicle model was designed and manufactured to prove that the propulsive wing concept is flyable. The article shows that the aerodynamic forces developed on the cross-flow fan airfoil are not only functions of Reynolds number and angle of attack as for standard airfoils but also function of the fan rotational speed. The results show the great effect of the rotational speed of fan on lift augmentation and thrust generation through the high momentum flow getting out of the fan nozzle. Wind tunnel tests show that the suction effect of the fan provides stall free operation up to very high angles of attack (40 degrees) leading to unprecedented values of lift coefficient up to 5.8. The flight test conducted showed the great potential of the new aircraft to perform the expected low cruise speed and high angles of attack flight.

Numerical investigation of flexible flapping wings using computational fluid dynamics/computational structural dynamics method

2016 ◽  
Vol 232 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Long Liu ◽  
Hongda Li ◽  
Haisong Ang ◽  
Tianhang Xiao
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Structural Dynamics ◽  
Fluid Structure Interaction ◽  
Flapping Wings ◽  
Structural Dynamic ◽  
Fluid Structure ◽  
Structure Interaction ◽  
Non Linear ◽  
Computational Structural Dynamics

A fluid–structure interaction numerical simulation was performed to investigate the flow field around a flexible flapping wing using an in-house developed computational fluid dynamics/computational structural dynamics solver. The three-dimensional (3D) fluid–structure interaction of the flapping locomotion was predicted by loosely coupling preconditioned Navier–Stokes solutions and non-linear co-rotational structural solutions. The computational structural dynamic solver was specifically developed for highly flexible flapping wings by considering large geometric non-linear characteristics. The high fidelity of the developed methodology was validated by benchmark tests. Then, an analysis of flexible flapping wings was carried out with a specific focus on the unsteady aerodynamic mechanisms and effects of flexion on flexible flapping wings. Results demonstrate that the flexion will introduce different flow fields, and thus vary thrust generation and pressure distribution significantly. In the meanwhile, relationship between flapping frequency and flexion plays an important role on efficiency. Therefore, appropriate combination of frequency and flexion of flexible flapping wings provides higher efficiency. This study may give instruction for further design of flexible flapping wings.

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