Propulsion system integration for aeropropulsive augmentation of a low-speed unmanned aerial vehicle

Abstract

A study on the integration of an Electric Ducted Fan (EDF) serving as the propulsion system with the aerodynamic field of a Blended Wing Body (BWB) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operating at low Mach numbers is presented. The aim is to investigate the enhancement of the vehicle’s aerodynamic characteristics through the study of the interaction between the ducted fan and the vehicle’s surrounding flow. The aeropropulsive performance of the UAV is evaluated through detailed simulations by making use of the open-source Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) platform OpenFOAM® installed on a High-Performance Computing (HPC) system. Mounting EDFs on the back of the fuselage enables higher aerodynamic loading with minimal drag penalty, thanks to the Boundary Layer Ingestion (BLI) effect. An increase in lift-to-drag ratio is achieved thanks to the delta wing design and the EDF’s jet flow. The spanwise flow that causes pitch brake and loss of stability at high angles of attack (AoA) is also reduced, as the suction produced by the EDF diverts the flow inwards.