Experimental and numerical study of novel Coanda-based unmanned aerial vehicle

Abstract

Conventional Coanda-based unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) experience thrust losses in the radial direction. To address these losses, a rectangular, linear arrangement of the Coanda surface was adopted in the proposed novel design. This arrangement minimizes the area change in the radial direction to recover such thrust losses. A prototype of the proposed UAV structure was 3D printed and assembled with a single 9-inch propeller. Performance characteristics of the UAV were evaluated through static testing on a dynamometer under different loading conditions. Experimental results were validated through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, using the k-ε realizable turbulence model, while the multiple reference frame (MRF) approach was applied in steady state. CFD simulations provided good overall agreement with experimental results having errors less than 8%. Numerical comparison between the novel Coanda design and a conventional Coanda design, having similar radial dimensions, showed that the novel design offered an overall 17% improvement in thrust per the side surface area, thus demonstrating an effective reduction of thrust losses in the radial direction.