Aerodynamic Optimization of a Micro Quadrotor Aircraft with Different Rotor Spacings in Hover

Lei, Yao; Wang, Hengda

doi:10.3390/app10041272

Cited by 18 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The values of uncertainty presented in this study are all calculated for 95% confidence levels. Finally, according to the Kline-McClintock method [17], typical uncertainties in the nondimensional performance coefficients, C T , and C P are 1.6%, 1.5%, and 1.5% for FM.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The CFD application for the MAVs is limited to the region near the building. Lei and Wang [16,17] analyzed the aerodynamic performance and flow field characteristics of quadrotor-MAV by experiments and numerical simulation. It is founded that the rotors pacing at L/R = 3:6 (L is rotor spacing between the center of adjacent rotors, and R is the radius of the rotor) with a larger thrust and smaller power are considered to be the best aerodynamic configuration for the quadrotor in hover.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of Wind Disturbance on the Aerodynamic Performance of a Quadrotor MAV during Hovering

2021

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Wind disturbance could render thrust and power variation or even causing roll which is difficult to maintain a steady flight in gust especially when the horizontal or vertical wind is involved. In this paper, the horizontal wind and vertical wind are presented to study the influence of wind disturbance on aerodynamic characteristics of the quadrotor aircraft in hovering by experiments and numerical simulations. First, the simplified aerodynamic model with the wind disturbance was analyzed in detail. Also, the low-speed wind tunnel tests were performed to obtain the thrust and power variation of the quadrotor aircraft with rotor spacing ratio s = 1.1 -1.8 in both horizontal and vertical winds of 0-5 m/s with the rotational speed ranging from 1500 to 2300 rpm. Finally, the simulations are performed by utilizing the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software ANSYS to study the flow field distribution of quadrotor with the influence of the wind disturbance. The comparison between experimental results and simulation results shows that the quadrotor achieves better aerodynamic performance with larger thrust and smaller power consumption at rotor spacing ratio s = 1.8 . Additionally, the quadrotor can effectively resist the horizontal wind disturbance, which will bring larger power loading for the quadrotor, especially at 2.5 m/s. However, the vortices near blade-tip move upwards and deform with the influence of vertical wind, resulting in the reduction of thrust and aerodynamic performance of the quadrotor.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Wind Disturbance on the Aerodynamic Performance of a Quadrotor MAV during Hovering

2021

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“…A settling chamber is attached before the test section to characterize the output wind. Considering that the multi-rotor aircraft is generally disturbed by light air (0.3-1.5 m/s), light breeze (1.6-3.3 m/s) and gentle breeze (3.4-5.4 m/s) in the natural environment [19], the averaged wind speeds of 2.5 m/s and 4.0 m/s are applied in the low-speed wind tunnel. In the tests, the thrust was measured by a thrust sensor (model: CZL605, accuracy: 0.02% F.S), and the power was obtained by collecting the voltage and current.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Micro Multi-Rotor Aircraft with 12 Rotors Considering the Horizontal Wind Disturbance

2020

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Wind disturbance posed difficulties for the stability of the micro air vehicles (MAVs) with attitude variation. In this paper, the aerodynamic performance of a MAV with six coaxial rotor pairs considering the horizontal wind is investigated by both experiments and numerical simulations. First, the effect of the horizontal wind on the multi-rotor aircraft is analyzed in detail. Then, low-speed wind tunnel tests were performed to obtain the thrust and power consumption and the aerodynamic performance of the multi-rotor aircraft (l/D = 1.2 and h/D = 0.19) with the rotational speed of 1500–2300 r/min in the horizontal wind ranged from 0 to 5 m/s. Finally, the distribution of streamline, the pressure of the blade tip, and the velocity and the vortices in the flow field of a multi-rotor aircraft with horizontal wind disturbance, were simulated and studied using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. Through the comparison of experimental results and simulation results, it can be seen that the horizontal wind disturbance will increase power consumption to weaken the aerodynamic performance at higher rotor speeds. However, larger thrust and better hover performance are obtained at lower rotational speeds with good wind resistance. Additionally, due to the mutual induction between rotor wakes, the interactions of downwash flows become more intense at higher rotational speeds or larger wind speeds where the vortexes at the blade tip deformed and moved along with the wind.

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“…Considering that the horizontal wind gusts applied on the quadrotor is usually the light breeze (1.6~3.3 m/s) and the gentle breeze (3.4~5.4 m/s), the wind velocity 0 m/s, 2.5 m/s, 4.0 m/s were selected as the typical wind environment to obtain the variation of flow field, and finally to contrast with the case without incoming flow. The rotor spacing 1.8D was applied with better hovering performance [19].…”

Section: A Computational Fluid Dynamics (Cfd) Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerodynamic Performance of a Quadrotor MAV Considering the Horizontal Wind

Lei

Wang

2020

IEEE Access

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The aerodynamic performance of the quadrotor is usually suffering a lower propulsive efficiency in a windy environment. Especially the horizontal wind may affect the attitude control to provide sufficient thrust to lift the entire vehicle or cause extra power consumption. In this paper, the aerodynamic characteristics of a micro quadrotor aircraft considering the horizontal wind disturbance are studied by both experiments and simulations. First, the aerodynamic model of the quadrotor with the influence of horizontal wind disturbance is deviated in details. Then, the distribution of flow field of the quadrotorr MAV considering the effects of horizontal wind was simulated by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. Finally, the thrust and power consumption of quadrotor with rotational speed ranged from 1500 to 2300 r/min were obtained in a low-speed wind tunnel. The comparison of simulation and experimental results shows that the distribution of flow field becomes more complicated with mutual interferences resulted by the distortion of rotor wake and crash of the downwash flow from the front rotors along with the wind direction. The thrust of the rotors gradually increases with wind speed, resulting from the increment of pressure difference between the upper and lower surfaces. However, the power consumption is also increasing because of the possible vibration caused by the strong interactions when the wind speed is up to 4.0 m/s. Also, the power loading of the quadrotor is larger at 2.5 m/s, which shows a good wind resistance with a better aerodynamic performance.

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Aerodynamic Optimization of a Micro Quadrotor Aircraft with Different Rotor Spacings in Hover

Cited by 18 publications

References 18 publications

Effects of Wind Disturbance on the Aerodynamic Performance of a Quadrotor MAV during Hovering

Effects of Wind Disturbance on the Aerodynamic Performance of a Quadrotor MAV during Hovering

Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Micro Multi-Rotor Aircraft with 12 Rotors Considering the Horizontal Wind Disturbance

Aerodynamic Performance of a Quadrotor MAV Considering the Horizontal Wind

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