Aerodynamic performance of aircraft wings with stationary vertical lift propellers
Aerodynamic performance of aircraft wings with stationary vertical lift propellers
Improvements in battery and motor technology are facilitating innovative aircraft configurations capable of vertical take-off and landing. Of these configurations, lift+cruise is popular for its inherent redundancy and the option to tailor separate propulsion systems for each flight regime. During cruise, the vertical flight propellers of a lift+cruise design are inactive and often exposed. Increasing the projected area of a body is understood to increase the drag, but the aerodynamic performance of an edgewise, stationary propeller and its influence on neighboring bodies is less clear. This study aimed to quantify the impact of two, tandem, edgewise and stationary propellers on the aerodynamic performance of a wing using wind tunnel measurements. The stationary position of the front and rear propellers were varied in 30
∘ increments between 0-150
∘, at angles of attack between -4
∘ and 10
∘. Results at Re = 4.3×10
5 showed the propellers and supporting systems had negligible influence on the lift. However, a drag increase of up to 30% was recorded when propeller positions were aligned perpendicular to the wing chord instead of parallel. Variations in the stationary position of the propeller altered the lift to drag ratio by up to 36% in a typical cruise configuration.
VTOL, Lifting propeller, UAV, Propeller-wing interaction, Wind tunnel testing, Wind tunnel testing, Propeller-wing interaction, VTOL, Lifting propeller, UAV
Westcott, Oliver
ab2090d6-fa00-44dc-b64d-5346c60a929b
Krishna, Swathi
b8d18885-c9af-4d17-8ddf-cec91e1663c9
Entwistle, Bob
dbd48cc0-bd30-4727-82fa-e51d6ea3dfef
Ferraro, Mario
bb685634-3a36-49dd-bd2e-ade3f475796c
1 October 2023
Westcott, Oliver
ab2090d6-fa00-44dc-b64d-5346c60a929b
Krishna, Swathi
b8d18885-c9af-4d17-8ddf-cec91e1663c9
Entwistle, Bob
dbd48cc0-bd30-4727-82fa-e51d6ea3dfef
Ferraro, Mario
bb685634-3a36-49dd-bd2e-ade3f475796c
Westcott, Oliver, Krishna, Swathi, Entwistle, Bob and Ferraro, Mario
(2023)
Aerodynamic performance of aircraft wings with stationary vertical lift propellers.
Aerospace Science and Technology, 141, [108552].
(doi:10.1016/j.ast.2023.108552).
Abstract
Improvements in battery and motor technology are facilitating innovative aircraft configurations capable of vertical take-off and landing. Of these configurations, lift+cruise is popular for its inherent redundancy and the option to tailor separate propulsion systems for each flight regime. During cruise, the vertical flight propellers of a lift+cruise design are inactive and often exposed. Increasing the projected area of a body is understood to increase the drag, but the aerodynamic performance of an edgewise, stationary propeller and its influence on neighboring bodies is less clear. This study aimed to quantify the impact of two, tandem, edgewise and stationary propellers on the aerodynamic performance of a wing using wind tunnel measurements. The stationary position of the front and rear propellers were varied in 30
∘ increments between 0-150
∘, at angles of attack between -4
∘ and 10
∘. Results at Re = 4.3×10
5 showed the propellers and supporting systems had negligible influence on the lift. However, a drag increase of up to 30% was recorded when propeller positions were aligned perpendicular to the wing chord instead of parallel. Variations in the stationary position of the propeller altered the lift to drag ratio by up to 36% in a typical cruise configuration.
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 2 August 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 7 August 2023
Published date: 1 October 2023
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The work conducted here was supported by the CASCADE (Complex Autonomous aircraft Systems Configuration, Analysis and Design Exploratory) grant, EPSRC Reference: EP/R009953/1 .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s)
Keywords:
VTOL, Lifting propeller, UAV, Propeller-wing interaction, Wind tunnel testing, Wind tunnel testing, Propeller-wing interaction, VTOL, Lifting propeller, UAV
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 481309
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/481309
ISSN: 1270-9638
PURE UUID: 2a8802d3-a347-492c-8d6c-f2b34fa732fb
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Date deposited: 22 Aug 2023 17:02
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:03
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Author:
Oliver Westcott
Author:
Bob Entwistle
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