Aerodynamic investigation by experimental and computational simulation of a flying wing unmanned aerial vehicle for cargo delivery and surveillance missions

Abstract

Baseline-IX is a tailless aircraft design with compound wing attached to a short body, a transition between a straight, swept flying wing design and a blended wing-body. Baseline-IX planform was designed to deal with a small BWB UAV that is capable of cargo delivery and surveillance missions. The design is influenced by the requirement of cargo space to carry batteries medical and other emergency supplies in its fuselage with a nose-mounted mission camera with a wingspan under 2.0 meters. This paper focuses on studying the aerodynamic characteristics of the novel Baseline-IX, inspired by its predecessor, the Baseline-V. Aerodynamic characteristics of Baseline-IX were investigated and validated through numerical computational simulations and wind tunnel experiments. The maximum lift-to-drag ratio of Baseline-IX obtained through this study is 15.14 for 1:2.4 scaled model and 17.46 for 1:1 prototype. Numerical simulation and wind tunnel experiments’ lift-to-drag ratio percentage difference is 4.92%. Baseline-IX’s lift-to-drag ratio surpasses 14.09% and 24.28% over similar-missions UAV operating in the market while both are larger in size. Baseline-IX has the potential to be developed as a small, easy to carry cargo delivery and surveillance BWB UAV.