Aerospace Science and Technology 29 (2013) 339350

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Aerospace Science and Technology

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Design, performance evaluation and optimization of a UAV

Spyridon G. Kontogiannis a,,1 , John A. Ekaterinaris a,b,2
a b

School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, University of Patras, 26500 Patras, Greece FORTH/IACM Heraklion, Crete, Greece

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Following current trends towards UAV innovative designs, a small size light UAV was designed, constructed and tested in ight. The purpose of this light UAV aircraft is to serve as a reconnaissance plane capable of carrying state-of-the-art photography and video equipment. The UAV is also equipped with rst person view (FPV) systems for easier and more accurate control by a remote user. For the initial conguration, apart from classical conceptual design procedures, some new relations were developed and used. For the preliminary design, linear aerodynamic performance and stability analysis was carried out rst. Next, the aerodynamic characteristics and eciency of the airfoil section, the wing, and the full conguration were evaluated using CFD. Finally, further improvements of the aerodynamic eciency of the full conguration were carried out through computational optimization. 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 30 January 2013 Received in revised form 12 April 2013 Accepted 16 April 2013 Available online 22 April 2013 Keywords: UAV Design CFD Optimization Aerodynamics Flight mechanics FPV systems Surveillance Winglets Aerial photography

1. Introduction Signicant efforts invested in unmanned air vehicle (UAV) technology led to a wide variety of new applications such as aerophotography and surveillance. Parallel advances in avionics and electronics applied to modern UAV technology combined with rapid developments in video and photographic equipment resulted in signicant weight reduction, enhanced eciency, and quality improvements. All these elements enabled modern UAV designs to cover a wider spectrum of applications from large monument and building photographs, to city maps and road trac information. Until now, common solutions were helicopters, causing however considerably high costs due to large fuel consumption. This paper suggests a more practical and economical way of dealing with the matter, by presenting the design, construction, optimization, and in ight testing of a light, electric powered UAV prototype. Another advantage of this concept, apart from its low cost, is that it can be operated from a distant room using FPV (First Person View) systems. Our UAV meets the above specications by carry-

Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: spkontogiannis@gmail.com (S.G. Kontogiannis), ekaterin@iacm.forth.gr (J.A. Ekaterinaris). 1 Student. 2 Professor. Currently at Aerospace Engineering, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), Daytona Beach, FL 32114. Associate Fellow AIAA. 1270-9638/$ see front matter 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2013.04.005

ing, in a specically formed fuselage the necessary electronic and video equipment. In the fuselage, a high denition camera (typically weighing under 2.5 kg), a video transmitter with its batteries, and the FPV systems are placed. The resulting empty weight of the proposed conguration is approximately 1.9 kg. The maximum payload can reach up to three times the UAV empty weight. An additional stringent design requirement is to keep the UAVs stalling speed down to very low levels, under 12 m/s, in order to ensure precise and high quality videos and photos. Apart from that, the design allows an easy and practical assembly process by keeping all parts rather small and easy to store. In the following sections, a brief summary of the UAV conceptual and preliminary design [14], aerodynamic analysis [15], ight mechanics, linear stability analysis and performance [10,2] is presented. After the preliminary design, due to lack of a relatively large wind tunnel facility a CFD analysis was conducted. For validation purposes, initially the E387 airfoil section that is similar to the one selected for the present UAV was analyzed using well established methods [4,17] for low Reynolds number airfoil ows. The computed results assisted to evaluate the level of condence and existing limitations of CFD numerical models to effectively simulate low Reynolds number transitional ows [9]. The commercial software FLUENT [5] and the Stanford University open source code SU [19] were used to compute airfoil and wing ows. For the full UAV conguration, the commercial software FLUENT was mostly used and the open source SU code was used only for few

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Table 1 UAV specications. Maximum W E 2 kg Maximum T.O. runway 60 m Motor/power Electric P < 500 Watts Operating payload W PL 6 kg V stall Under 12 m/s Specic design to include video equipment and relative systems

selected cases. A more improved and ecient conguration design has been achieved by computational experimentation and evaluation of possible changes [12,6] and add-ons for wing and full aircraft conguration, such as winglets [11,8] and fairings, keeping the cost of the development down to low level. The work presented in this paper was later used as a basis for developing a similar UAV prototype for a student competition, http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1347952 Air Cargo Challenge 2011, and was presented as a conference paper [6]. The limitations set by the competition were (i) UAV weight 1.8 kg (ii) takeoff and landing distances 60 m and 120 m, respectively (iii) demonstration ight with maneuvers. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. In Section 1, the conceptual design is briey presented. In Section 2, the preliminary design is shown. Flight mechanics calculations for the preliminary design based on linear theory are presented in Section 3. The aerodynamic analysis using CFD and optimization is presented in Section 4. Summary and conclusions are given in Section 5. 2. Conceptual design 2.1. Design specications and limitations The conceptual design process started directly from the new specications required for the UAV. In the absence of design limitations set by the industry or a client, an extensive research in possible photographic UAVs was carried out and the results that conform to our specications are summarized in Table 1. An ultralight UAV design was selected and the stalling speed was kept down to low levels in order to ensure good quality photos and lming, while at the same time allowing an easy transportation from the user. Flexibility in use, especially in a city environment, demands short takeoff runways. Therefore, the takeoff distance was set to a maximum of 60 m. An electric power plant for the propeller was selected since it offers low operating costs, simplicity in installation, use, and because it is eco-friendly. The electronic and video equipment that the aircraft should typically carry does not exceed a total weight of 3 kg. However, a 6 kg payload was set as a target for the present UAV conguration because a design for a larger payload allows possible changes to carry more sophisticated photographic equipment in the future while at the same time the stalling velocity V stall ( W / S )/(C L )max is kept at low levels, e.g. suciently high (C L )max is required. 2.2. Weight estimations The procedure used for UAV weight estimation differs in two aspects from the typical procedures suggested in the literature for general aircraft. Firstly, while the payload was estimated the empty weight will not be estimated but is set as a specication. For the present design, it is of great importance to obtain accurate weight estimations of the components and their distribution so that the weight of the aircraft itself does not exceed 2 kg. Secondly, compared to the typical methods, this weight calculation procedure varies in terms of the way used to estimate the weight of the components. We considered that traditional statistical relations for

Fig. 1. Calculation procedure of acceptable aero-surfaces.

aircraft found in the literature do not apply in such a small UAV. As a result, new relations had to be developed which would enable to estimate with precision the weight of all aerodynamic surfaces with respect to their area. The empty weight of the aircraft is given by:

W E = W motor + W batteries + W electronics + W propeller + W L.G.

+ W wing + W V + W H + W boom + W fuselage

(1)

The weight of the rst four components was readily obtained with precision since the electrical and propulsion equipment was accessible giving a total weight of 0.7 kg. The Landing Gear (LG) weight, constructed from aluminum, was also accurately estimated from CAD to be 0.95 kg. As far as the boom is concerned, with a rst estimation of its length resulting in 1.1 m, satisfying both functionality and easy transportation of the aircraft, and carbon ber as a material (with a density of 0.95 kg/m) its weight will be about 0.105 kg. The camera fairing and housing will be made out of balsa wood and carbon ber resulting in a weight of 0.08 kg. From Eq. (1), the weight of the wing, horizontal and vertical stabilizer should not exceed 1.02 kg. In order to satisfy this requirement, the iterative procedure shown in Fig. 1 was followed. This uses the weight statistical relations, as well as other newly developed equations that relate empennage surface, wing surface and dimensionless tail volumes V H and V V . 3. Preliminary design The rst objective of the preliminary design is to determine the optimum combination of the wing lift coecient, surface and planform geometry. Major constraints in the design are the stalling speed that should not exceed 12 m/s and the takeoff runway that should not exceed 60 m. These two constraints dictated an iterative design process that resulted in a wing surface of 0.9 m2 (leading to no overweight) and a C L = 1.3 for a stalling speed of 10 m/s. For weight reduction, simplicity of construction, and low cost considerations no high lift devices (slats or aps) were used since it was found that a high lift, low Reynolds number airfoil section could satisfy both constraints. The X-Foil code [4] was used during the selection process of the airfoil section. It was concluded that the airfoil that best matches our demands is the E420 high lift airfoil. Depending on camera weight, the stalling speed could vary from 7.5 m/s to 12 m/s resulting in a Reynolds number based on the wings mean aerodynamic chord, Rec , for takeoff and landing in the transitional ow range 1.3 105 < Rec < 2.4 105 . As the airfoil is characterized by high camber and high pressure gradient

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Fig. 2. Wing design proposals. Table 2 Wing characteristics. Angle of sweep c/4 Root airfoil thickness (t /c )c Tip airfoil thickness (t /c )t Taper ratio w Root chord length c r (m) Tip chord length c t (m) Wing planform area S W (m2 ) Aspect ratio AR 0 0.1429 0.1429 0.4 0.375 0.15 0.9 10

Fig. 3. Fuselage and camera bay design.

along its chord, the ow at these low Reynolds numbers is considered to be transitional. The design of the wing continues with the selection of the most suitable aspect ratio (AR) for the UAV wing. It is important to target a high AR value so that our aircraft can reach the best performance possible, keeping drag and power losses to a minimum. Structural dynamic calculations (not shown here) determined that a maximum AR of 10 could be reached for the low cost materials selected for construction. Note that higher AR values could be achieved but would not enable sustained use from an inexperienced UAV user. The wing planform design concluded with the estimation of the optimum taper ratio that would result in an elliptical wing approximation. This was found to be 0.4 for the chosen AR = 10, combined with the semi-tapered planform (proposal 2) shown in Fig. 2. The semi-tapered planform offers the possibility of an easy and practical transportation as it consists of 3 retractable parts of 1 m span each. Enhanced lateral stability necessary for the aircraft in order to ensure video and photo quality is achieved by a high cantilevered conguration so that no dihedral angle W is needed. In this basic conguration, there is also no twist angle due to manufacture constraints, but the twist angle will be examined in the optimization process. The angle of incidence of the wing is 5.5 deg where the aerodynamic eciency of the airfoil is maximized, while at the same time a necessary wing lift coecient of C L = 1.3 is obtained. The characteristics of the wing of the basic conguration are summarized in Table 2. 3.1. Fuselage design/video equipment weight Use of conventional fuselage shapes for the present UAV is not required. Therefore the fuselage is designed in such a way that it would allow practical storage of the equipment and the camera, as shown in Fig. 3. A maximum of six batteries can offer a ight time of 1.5 hrs. In order to reduce drag, the aerodynamic shape PARSONS F2-49 [13] was selected. 3.2. Empennage design Among three examined congurations (conventional, T -tail, V -tail), the conventional T -tail conguration was selected and connected to the wing via a boom (carbon tube). For the horizontal stabilizer, the initial surface area predicted from conceptual design relations, was S H = 0.082 m2 , however it was redesigned so that S H = 0.099 m2 when calculated in the pitching moment analysis. The airfoil chosen was a NACA5412 that being inverted can produce sucient down force to ensure longitudinal stability at low AoA. For the sake of simplicity of construction no elevator was

Fig. 4. CAD of the baseline aircraft conguration.

used and the horizontal stabilizer rotates along its axis to produce pitch up or pitch down. The vertical stabilizer uses a symmetrical NACA 0012 airfoil, and its surface area is 0.056 m2 as calculated in the conceptual design. Rudder design is further described in the following sections dealing with directional stability. Finally, pitching moment analysis [10,2] around the center of gravity (CoG) in cruise showed that the optimum boom length is 0.8 m. 4. Flight mechanics Based on the conceptual and preliminary design as well as the aerodynamic analysis of the previous sections, the aircraft conguration has taken its complete form as shown in Fig. 4. Notice that in the trapezoid sections of the wing, a small sweep angle appears. This was dictated by structural integrity calculations demanding a zero sweep angle in the (t /c )max line. Drag components and total drag were calculated to estimate power consumption and thrust required during each phase of ight and to obtain the optimum propeller choice. To ensure stability and control, longitudinal, lateral and directional stability were considered and the horizontal stabilizer, ailerons and rudder were calculated. Apart from takeoff analysis, ight performance including maneuvering, ight envelope and climb and descent phase were also calculated. 4.1. Drag coecients calculation In this linear analysis, the wing, the empennage, the landing gear, and the camera bay drag components were considered and overestimated by 10% to include phenomena such as interference drag and propeller induced ow.

C D total = 1.1(C D wing + C D emp + C D fus + C D L.G. )

(2)

Analyzing the drag component of the wing and the tail as function of lift, we obtain the drag polar:
2 C D = C D 0 + kC L

(3)

where C D 0 = 0.010015 and k = 1/( A Re) = 0.03233.

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Fig. 5. Takeoff distance required as a function of payload and runway friction coefcient.

Fig. 7. Flight envelope diagram.

friction coecient case of Cr = 0.02, the runway specication is met and a 9 kg payload can be lifted. Thrust requirement calculations for the climb phase shown in Fig. 6 were also necessary for the appropriate selection of the propulsion system. From the calculations, the required thrust as a function of the payload and the climb angle is extracted. Since the propulsion system can produce a static thrust of 25 N, the results ensure that motor power is sucient for this type of aircraft. The ight envelope shown in Fig. 7 provides information about safe ight conditions regarding stall and structural damage due to short turn radius. It is noted that the aircraft can withstand side forces up to 2 g . 4.4. Longitudinal stability Longitudinal stability analysis ensures balance in every situation that moves aircraft from the trim position. From the analysis, the characteristics of the horizontal stabilizer were calculated, as well as the neutral point position and the static margin.
Fig. 6. Thrust required versus payload for various climb angles.

C mcg = C mof +

dC m f da f dat

af + at

dC L W da dC Lt dat

aw

hcg c

hac c (4)

4.2. Propeller analysis/propulsion system For the selection of the most ecient propeller for the aircraft, both computational and experimental tools were used. For the initial phase of the design, the JAVA prop. software was used. Propellers of various diameter and pitch were tested with JAVA prop. software. Three of them that were found superior in every respect, were experimentally tested in a simple custom made device. After the necessary tests, the 13 7 propeller (13 inches diameter, 7 inches pitch) was chosen because it produced more thrust than the other two. In addition, it was found that this propeller retained high thrust level for a wider range of ight velocities. Drag analysis has shown that the power of the motor to drive this propeller does not need to exceed 450 W. As a result, the AXI GOLD 2826/10 motor was chosen, since it is one of the best available in the market. 4.3. Aircraft performance and ight characteristics To verify that the propulsion system selected is sucient for the UAV needs and a takeoff runway distance under 60 m is achieved, a takeoff analysis had to be conducted. The analysis considers various camera weight scenarios as well as various friction cases. Results shown in Fig. 5 demonstrate that for a typical rolling

V Hn

dC Lt

The nal dimensions of the horizontal stabilizer are shown in Table 3. Longitudinal stability conditions are satised, e.g. C m, | =0 > 0 and C m, / < 0. 4.5. Lateral stability/control Lateral stability analysis is used to calculate the necessary aileron surface and deection to cancel the torque of the motor. As lateral and directional stability interact with each other, rolling tendencies induced from yaw and moment created during sideslip (skid) had to be taken into account as well. The calculations were guided by the above conditions and the resulting dimensions of each aileron are also shown in Table 3. 4.6. Directional stability/control Vertical stabilizers should be able to cancel roll induced yaw moments (adverse yaw moments), and counteract intense crosswind conditions. Another crucial factor, which is dicult also to predict even with sophisticated CFD analysis, is the ow of the propeller which could create unpredictable destabilizing moments

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Table 3 Characteristics of aircraft control surfaces. Horizontal stabilizer Airfoil Aspect ratio ARH Span bH (m) Root chord c rH (m) Root chord c tH (m) I H (deg) NACA 5412 5.2 0.72 0.198 0.08 4 Vertical stabilizer Airfoil Aspect ratio ARV Span bV (m) Root chord c rV (m) Root chord c tV (m) Root rudder chord c rR (m) Root rudder chord c tR (m) NACA 0012 2.07 0.37 0.198 0.158 0.108 0.071 Ailerons Planform area S A (m2 ) Aspect ratio ARA Span bA (m) Root chord c rA (m) Root chord c tA (m) SA/SW 0.054 4.28 0.48 0.16 0.04 0.12

that are dicult to handle. Extensive analysis and experimentation led to the specications summarized in Table 3. 5. Aerodynamic analysis with CFD and optimization After the preliminary aerodynamic analysis and design were conducted, a CATIA model was constructed and the necessary structural analysis was carried out. Prior to construction the UAV design analysis was completed with computational uid dynamic (CFD) tools. A CFD analysis of the full UAV conguration described in Sections 13 was also performed. Furthermore, comparisons with analytical/semi-analytical methods and computational results were carried out. With the numerical models validated and trimmed, the redesign and optimization followed. The optimization process focuses on the maximization of the aerodynamic eciency, L / D , with simultaneous lift increase and drag decrease so that power consumption is minimized, endurance is increased and ight performance is improved. The optimization process is limited by structural integrity parameters not discussed in the present paper. 5.1. Numerical approach The rst step in the computational analysis process is to assess the numerical requirements (mesh topology and mesh density characteristics, numerical schemes, turbulence models, etc.) using experimental data for validation. Appropriate grids [3] were generated for the airfoils, the wing and the full conguration. Considering that transitional [20,16,7] low Rec ow is expected in all ight conditions of the UAV special attention was given to the near wall mesh quality. For the airfoils, intermediate and ne 2D meshes were generated with the latter using approximately 68.000 cells. A grid independence study (see Figs. 89) was conducted. It was found that the intermediate size mesh provided sucient resolution for the needs of the simulation. A distance y f of the rst layer of cells away from the wall of y f = 105 c was set. Using these meshes the resulting y + obtained for the computed solutions never exceeded the value of 1, most of the times taking values of y + = 0.20.4. In a similar manner, 3D meshes for the wing and the full aircraft were generated as shown in Figs. 1011. For the wing, approximately two million elements were used. For the full UAV conguration, approximately 4.5 106 elements were used for symmetric (half body) numerical solutions. The same wall spacing restrictions as the 2D meshes were applied for the full aircraft as well, and the maximum computed value of y + approached 1. 5.2. CFD analysis The CFD analysis for the initial conguration, which served also as a validation study, was obtained in order to ensure that realistic results for the optimization and the nal conguration could be computed. The validation procedure begins with basic 2D airfoil ows. This allows us to calibrate the numerical models with

Fig. 8. Mesh comparison for the E420 airfoil.

Fig. 9. Mesh comparison for the E420 airfoil.

Fig. 10. Wing surface mesh and near wall layers.

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Fig. 11. Full conguration volume mesh.

Fig. 14. E420 airfoil results.

Fig. 12. Surface pressure coecient distribution, Cp, for the E387 airfoil at Rec = 2 105 . Fig. 15. Baseline wing results comparison.

Fig. 13. E420 airfoil results.

low computational cost problems using the existing detailed experimental information. Unfortunately, low Reynolds number experimental results of the E420 airfoil that was used for the present UAV conguration were not available. Therefore, another very similar airfoil shape had to be used for validation and calibration purposes. The selected section was the E387 airfoil, for which low Reynolds number transitional ow, experimental measurements with partial ow separation and presence of a separation bubble starting at approximately mid-chord distance are available. The experimental results for Rec = 105 are compared with computations

in Fig. 12 in order to determine the turbulence model that best describes the transitional ow eld. Turbulence modeling in transitional ows is not an easy task and in this case optimum results are obtained using the k SST transitional model. This particular model appears to be the most suitable and will be used for the rest of the analysis and optimization. However comparisons with numerical solutions obtained with the SA model will be also shown. The 2D simulations conclude with E420 calculations. Having validated the numerical models with the E387 section, the results of the E420 shown in Figs. 1314 are considered to be accurate. They can now provide a basis for the analytical calculations of the wing as well as for the redesign process that was entirely based on CFD analysis. Three dimensional computational results were obtained for the baseline wing to determine its aerodynamic characteristics, as well as to be compared with the analytical calculations that used the classical PrandtlLanchester theory [1]. This comparison is shown in Figs. 1516. Clearly, there is good agreement in the linear region between theory and computation, while the initial specication of C L = 1.3 is satised. The computational results of the baseline wing shown in Figs. 1718 are indispensable data for the development of the nal design as well as a reference value to evaluate the eciency of every new wing design. The nal step in the CFD analysis is the simulation of the full conguration which serves as a comparison study in a similar way to the wing mentioned above. Therefore, baseline full conguration results are directly presented in comparison with results of

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Fig. 19. Planform results comparison. Fig. 16. Baseline wing results comparison.

These are mainly the region behind the propeller, the fuselage and boom connection, and the wing tips. By closely examining the ow structure in these regions and identifying where separations occur, we were able to redesign these sections of the aircraft and reduce the extent or to completely eliminate regions of separated ow. For example, it was found that in the propeller shaft, a bounded vortex occurs across its perimeter. This vortex could be eliminated with the use of a specic curvature in the start of the shaft, behind the propeller. To decrease the intensity of the interference and separation vortices between the wing, the boom and its connection, a fairing was added. The situation is a bit more complex near the wingtips. To reduce wingtip vortices, winglets were used as it is shown in the following section, while successive CFD simulations of the wing provided the necessary feedback to guide the nal design process. 5.3. Optimization

Fig. 17. Baseline wing results.

Fig. 18. Baseline wing results.

the nal full conguration at the end of the present paper. The primary goal of the CFD analysis however, was to provide information regarding the ow eld near the baseline aircraft so that ecient and effective redesign and optimization could be made possible. Close examination of the computed results showed that in certain regions strong ow separations and wake vortices occur.

The optimization following CFD analysis aims at reducing power requirements and increasing endurance by maximizing the L / D ratio without compromising high lift at low speeds. An obstacle towards this goal is the structural integrity of the wing. As a result, thresholds were set for the optimization process so that the AR and wingspan do not increase. Therefore AR is held xed and optimization at this stage only focuses on maximizing span eciency and simultaneously achieving drag reduction. Optimization results can be applied for a higher AR wing and/or for higher wing loading W / S once the structural integrity considerations would allow it. The current wing optimization procedure focused on designing, examining and reevaluating possibilities of improved wing planform, geometric twist, and use of winglets. The nal UAV conguration consisted of the optimized wing conguration and aerodynamic fairings behind the propeller, fuselage and empennage to reduce the ow separation and vortex strength observed in CFD analysis. i. Planform. As AR and the span, b , of the wing cannot change nor redesigned, effort is focused in optimizing the planform shape, e.g. to increase Oswald eciency factor, e , and span eciency [18]. Manufacturing and cost considerations exclude the use of an elliptic planform and the leading edge (LE) or trailing edge (TE) lines are set to be straight. Because the surface area and the wingspan are xed, the taper ratio also remains xed on its optimum for this AR value. As a result, the planform problem reduces to nding the optimum leading edge line angle. Apart from the initial design, two more congurations were considered: Zero sweep LE line and Schumann planform. Figs. 1920 show that the lift coecient C L

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Fig. 23. Winglet congurations.

Fig. 20. Planform results comparison.

Fig. 24. Wing with winglets comparison.

Fig. 21. Twist results comparison.

Fig. 22. Twist results comparison.

is not sensitive to planform in the linear region but zero sweep reduces C D in the same region. ii. Twist. As the wing planform approaches the elliptical shape, the elliptical lift distribution can be achieved with the appropriate twist. Manufacturing and aerodynamic considerations set a limit in twist angle variations (as ow separation and stall could occur if a critical AoA is exceeded). High lift is crucial, and airfoil E420

has not been changed in any position of the wing, as a result the twist is only geometrical. The appropriate washout distribution is calculated in two ways, Glauerts method and using direct calculation. In Glauerts method, the C L constraint set ensures that the twisted wing meets the specications set in the conceptual design. In direct calculation of twist, angle of incidence distribution was calculated directly from the elliptical lift distribution equation. A comparison of these two congurations and the initial wing design is shown in Figs. 2122. The AoA of the twisted wing is measured from the root. As expected due to twist, lift is reduced for a constant AoA. However, a constant lift coecient is followed by a considerable increase in aerodynamic eciency. iii. Winglets. Span eciency increase and drag reduction is also achieved by reducing tip vortices via specially designed wingtip devices ramied in three directions: Endplates, Hoerner tips and Winglets were employed. It is important that the winglet designed does not interact with the wing producing interference vortices. A total of eleven (11) congurations were examined, each one using feedback from previous congurations. From all congurations examined, the four congurations shown in Fig. 23 were dominant over the rest in every respect simultaneously considering (high L , low D , and high L / D ). These four designs produced simultaneously more lift increase and drag decrease compared to the others. From Figs. 2426 and Table 4 that summarizes all winglets results, it is clearly seen that Winglet Nr. 4 is the optimum design. This winglet combines all the positive characteristics encountered in other winglets as it reduces the most strength of wingtip vortices while at the same time does not appear to generate interference vortices due to its specially designed curves for a wide range of ight conditions examined. The effect is clearly displayed in Figs. 2728 which provide a comparison of the ow eld of the baseline and the nal wingtip region. It is obvious that the wingtip

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Fig. 25. Wing with winglets comparison. Fig. 27. Flow eld and vortices near the nal wingtip.

Fig. 26. Wing with winglets comparison.

vortices strength is greatly reduced by the use of the specically designed winglet. 5.4. Final conguration Geometric twist when combined with optimum planform and winglets did not show signicant improvements. As a result, twist has not been used in the nal conguration of the wing. Apart from the new wing, three aerodynamic fairings were tested. It was found that diminished vortex strength behind the fuselage and the empennage could be achieved. It also became clear from the computed results that the aerodynamic eciency of the full conguration shown in Figs. 2932 could be enhanced. It is important to note that simulations of the full conguration modeled the propeller both as an interior and as a fan, simulating no power descent-gliding and full throttle conditions respectively. Figs. 33 34, apart from showing the propeller ow in full throttle conditions, provide a comparison of the baseline and the nal aircraft conguration, as well as an illustration of the benecial effect of the fairing behind the wing. It is evident that the positive ow velocity observed in that region in Fig. 33 no longer exists in Fig. 34, with the vortex formed been eliminated. A display of the pressure distribution on the surface of each conguration for the full throttle conditions simulation is shown in Figs. 3536. After a close

Fig. 28. Flow eld and vortices near the nal wingtip.

Fig. 29. Baselinenal aircraft comparison.

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Table 4 Winglet characteristics. Wingtip Winglet Winglet Winglet Winglet Nr. Nr. Nr. Nr. 1 2 3 4 C L @ L / D max 1.052 1.029 1.015 1.064 C D @ L / D max 0.0844 0.08262 0.0834 0.0851 C L /C D max 12.46 12.45 12.17 12.50 C L @6 deg 1.396 1.364 1.353 1.413 C D @6 deg 0.1190 0.1170 0.1190 0.1185 C L /C D @6 deg 11.73 11.665 11.369 11.928 Increase (%) 12.91 12.43 10.15 14.36

Fig. 30. Baselinenal aircraft comparison.

Fig. 32. Baselinenal aircraft comparison.

Fig. 31. Baselinenal aircraft comparison.

Fig. 33. X velocity contours in the symmetry plane baseline conguration.

inspection, it was found that the pressure gradients caused by the ow separation behind the propeller have been diminished with the use of the specially designed fairing. The effect of the propeller on the pressure distribution of the wing is quite obvious for both congurations. The leading edge near the wing root is affected by the fan, and as a result its stagnation pressure is increased. In the suction side respectively, the pressure drop shows the same behavior, as pressure losses are more intense. The most signicant effect of the propeller ow however, is the alteration of the aircrafts stability characteristics which is evident in Fig. 31. In the initial conguration, analytical linear stability calculations (not including fan) and the No Fan simulations, show an agreement, with the aircraft longitudinally trimmed in the designed angle of incidence of the wing (5.5 deg). The nal optimized aircraft is statically stable as well, but trim position changed to

an angle of 6.5 deg. This was expected due to the new planform and winglets both reducing the wings pitching moment. The new planform brings the wings aerodynamic center (AC) and planes neutral point (NP) closer to the CoG, reducing the aircrafts static margin. Simulations including the propeller clearly show that it enhances the tails performance, producing pitching up moment. This is evident in Figs. 3334. The ow behind the propeller is of increased velocity and reaches the horizontal stabilizer at higher AoA signicantly increasing the produced lift. As a result the angle of incidence for which the aircraft is trimmed is increased as well, and this nding was in agreement with test ight results. These ight tests were performed both during the prototype construction and in preparation for the Air Cargo Challenge 2011 competition.

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Fig. 34. X velocity contours in the symmetry plane nal conguration. Table 5 Baselinenal conguration comparison in full throttle conditions. Fan Full conguration base Full conguration nal C L @6 deg 1.197 1.192 C D @6 deg 0.1585 0.1458 C L /C D @6 deg 7.55 8.18 Increase (%) 7.70

Fig. 35. Baseline conguration Cp distribution.

The ight tests used a single ight prole consisted of takeoff, a circular turn of a radius of about 150 m, gliding descent and landing. The aim of the ight tests was to certify the ability of the UAV to satisfy the initial design requirements, to ensure the validity of the analytical predictions for takeoff and landing distances, to verify the eciency of the designed control systems, and to validate the analytical and computational results regarding longitudinal stability. During these tests in order to simulate the photographic equipment load, a lead plate of 2.5 kg was inserted into the camera bay. For these ight tests the baseline conguration was used. These ight tests proved that: (i) the predictions regarding takeoff and landing runway distance had less than 10% divergence from the actual test ights, (ii) the control surfaces provided an aircraft response exactly as calculated in ight mechanics analysis, (iii) the ight test results of the baseline aircraft were also in agreement with the analytical and computational results regarding longitudinal stability and trim position shown in Fig. 31. During the gliding descent phase (throttle at idle) no pitching up was observed. The aircraft was trimmed in the designed AoA, exactly as predicted using linear stability approach and the CFD simulations. Longitudinal stability for the full throttle ascent phase could not be calculated using the linear stability approach due to the propeller wake. Therefore, only CFD calculations could provide longitudinal stability characteristics for the ascent phase. The ight tests proved that during ascent, the horizontal stabilizer produced an increased pitching up moment due to the interference of the propeller wake. This observation was in agreement with the CFD computations, shown in Fig. 33. As a result, during the full throttle ascent phase the aircraft was not trimmed in the desirable AoA, exactly as shown in Fig. 31. Static margin is also reduced, but it is obvious that the changes in the conguration improved the aerodynamic eciency of the aircraft signicantly. A summary of the aerodynamic performance comparing the baseline and the nal conguration for full throttle conditions is shown in Table 5.

Fig. 36. Final conguration Cp distribution.

6. Conclusions To satisfy the increasing needs of aviation in light UAV aircraft and the needs for aerial photography, city maps, trac information with FPV systems, a light UAV aircraft was designed, constructed and successfully tested in ight. Linear aerodynamic analysis as well as linear stability analysis was performed, concluding the aircraft design. The propulsion system was selected after an extensive survey of electric motors, batteries, etc. The propeller performance was initially evaluated using program JAVA prop., followed by experimental tests. The ability of the CFD tools to accurately compute transitional ows was evaluated via comparison with available measurements. Then preliminary design was followed by an extensive CFD analysis that served as the foundation for the optimization process that was conducted next. CFD analysis showed good agreement with the analytical results, and aerodynamic optimization was the next step. Span eciency and induced drag were optimized by planform redesign, twist and winglet design. The nal wing design was the result of several CFD simulations that clearly demonstrated that the aerodynamic characteristics of the wing could be improved after certain modications. To reduce form drag, specically designed fairings were

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successfully tested in the nal optimized conguration. This paper focused only on aerodynamic eciency optimization constrained by wingspan. Once structural integrity obstacles are overcome, the aerodynamic performance can be further improved. The combination of improvements proposed and the increase of wingspan and AR, would lead to a greater range, an endurance increase and to a more economical and eco-friendly aircraft. It is expected that further aerodynamic improvements using CFD analysis, combined with structural optimization could allow a similar design to y using solar power. References
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