Aerodynamic Configuration Design And Analysis Of A Certain Tailless Flying Wing UAV

In recent years, flying wing layout unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV) is one of the hotspots of research for which the countries all over the world are competing for. With the rapid development of modern flight control technology and linear augmentation technology, tailless flying wing UAV becomes one of the preferred option of the next generation of new aircraft aerodynamic configuration due to its high aerodynamic efficiency, strong stealth characteristics, excellent structural and mechanical properties and cost-effective economy. Based on a large number of domestic and international reference of flying wing aerodynamic layout findings and conclusions, this paper designed a small tailless flying wing UAV of which the take-off weight is 500 kg-class with both reconnaissance and attack capability. This paper can provide a reference for the same type of low aspect-ratio flying wing UAV design.In this paper, the main design criteria of the UAV are first proposed according to the tactical and technical requirements. Then based on these criteria, the UAV take-off weight, wing loading, thrust to weight ratio, and specific wing and fuselage geometric parameters are calculated. The aerodynamic configuration of the UAV is also determined based on the above parameters. The 3D-geometric model is given by CATIA. ICEM is then used to mesh the geometry model and FLUENT is used to simulate the flow field and calculate the UAV's aerodynamic parameters such as the lift coefficient, drag coefficient, lift-drag ratio, pitch moment coefficients, etc. Then the low-speed wind-tunnel testis carried to verify the accuracy and feasibility of the CFD simulation results. Based on the aerodynamic parameters given by CFD simulation, the flight performance and mechanics of this UAV have been calculated to find out whether the design parameters are right or not. These include straight level flight performance, take-off performance, climbing performance, gliding performance and flight envelope. Lastly, according to the data of CFD simulation, the effects of aerodynamic characteristics the spoiler deflector, which this low aspect-ratio UAV uses as drag rudder, has on the UAV have been researched and analyzed.