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Simulation and Analysis of Morphing Wing UAV for Performance Optimization

G. Venugopal, John Paul P., Kiran Karthikeyan, Binil Kurain Philip, Arun A. R.

Abstract


UAVs have become popular in several domains in civil as well as military applications. The flight dynamics of a UAV much like a regular aircraft is dependent on its wing geometry and airfoil selected for generating sufficient lift under flight conditions. Currently, UAVs employ a fixed wing geometry throughout a flight. But, along the course of a flight UAVs are subjected to varying flight conditions. Some airfoils are optimized to meet the takeoff conditions, but the same airfoil will not give better performance parameters during cruise or landing. Our study focusses on the effect of using a morphing wing geometry that is able to conform to the optimum airfoil geometry demanded by the respective flight conditions. we have reduced the problem of real time wing morphing such that entire course of flight is considered as three phases namely, takeoff, cruise and landing. Airfoils optimum for the above flight conditions are chosen from airfoil databases. Analysis is conducted to study the transition between selected airfoils in response to the varying flight conditions. The ultimate objective is to provide a comparison of the flight performance in terms of endurance of an aircraft having a morphing wing over a fixed wing-geometry UAV.

Keywords


Aerofoil, morphing wing, UAV, transition, endurance, numerical analysis

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References


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Cite this Article: G. Venugopal, John Paul P., Kiran Karthikeyan, Binil Kurain Philip, Arun AR. Simulation and Analysis of Morphing Wing UAV for Performance Optimization. International Journal of Machine Design and


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