Effects of distributed propulsion crucial variables on aerodynamic and propulsive performance of small UAV

Abstract

The distributed propulsion (DP) with the effect of boundary layer ingestion (BLI) can improve the flight performance of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and the mounting parameters of DP can further affects the propulsive efficiency and the aerodynamic performance of airfoil. To explore the effect of DP mounting parameters, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), sensitivity analysis and Kriging surrogate models methods were used, results indicate that in a wide range of design space, the effect of BLI significantly improves the aerodynamic performance and propulsive efficiency at medium/small angle of attack (2° and 6°), but the undesirable configuration will exert adverse effects on the propulsive efficiency and pitching moment, lower mounting height or larger setting angle of DP will produce the aerodynamic effect of the reflex airfoil, which is suitable for flying-wing UAV.