Experimental and numerical study of novel Coanda-based unmanned aerial vehicle

Abstract

Conventional Coanda-based unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) experience thrust losses in the radial direction. To address these losses, a rectangular, linear arrangement of the Coanda surface was adopted in the proposed novel design. This arrangement minimizes the area change in the radial direction to recover such thrust losses. A prototype of the proposed UAV structure was 3D printed and assembled with a single 9-inch propeller. Performance characteristics of the UAV were evaluated through static testing on a dynamometer under different loading conditions. Experimental results were validated through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, using the k-ε realizable turbulence model, while the multiple reference frame (MRF) approach was applied in steady state. CFD simulations provided good overall agreement with experimental results having errors less than 8%. Numerical comparison between the novel Coanda design and a conventional Coanda design, having similar radial dimensions, showed that the novel design offered an overall 17% improvement in thrust per the side surface area, thus demonstrating an effective reduction of thrust losses in the radial direction.

Method for inspection of atmospheric discharge protection systems: Grain storage plants

“…It is observed that the use of unmanned aircraft has had unprecedented growth in a wide class of manufacturing, including mainly commercial and military. Most designers aim to perfect the aerodynamic operation of their design to provide greater payload, power, and range (Siddiqi & Lee, 2022).…”

Rapid Design Method of Heavy-Loaded Propeller for Distributed Electric Propulsion Aircraft

“…MRF simulations are sufficient for thrust and torque prediction of an open propeller and can reduce the CPU time of rigid body motion simulations [27]. In the rotation domain, the flow around a propeller by assigning a constant rotational velocity while the solid structure of the propeller itself remains fixed [28][29][30][31].…”

Design and Stabilization of a Coandӑ Effect-Based Uav: Comparative Study between Fuzzy Logic and Pid Control Approaches

“…Current research is focused on optimizing Coanda surface design for UAVs, particularly exploring novel configurations for enhance thrust/ lift performance. This is the case of two studies that used linear rectangular and straight cylindrical surface arrangements to improve performance by 17% to 45%, respectively [24][25]. Moreover, the Coandȃ effect is also being tested nowadays in helicopters with no tail rotor as in NOTAR [20][21][22][23][24][25][26] or in spherical drones propelled by closed impellers utilizing the Coanda effect [27].…”

“…This is the case of two studies that used linear rectangular and straight cylindrical surface arrangements to improve performance by 17% to 45%, respectively [24][25]. Moreover, the Coandȃ effect is also being tested nowadays in helicopters with no tail rotor as in NOTAR [20][21][22][23][24][25][26] or in spherical drones propelled by closed impellers utilizing the Coanda effect [27]. The benefit of using the Coandȃ effect with a single rotor also effectively reduces noise, offering a potential breakthrough for acoustical stealth in drone operations compared to conventional multi-rotor systems [28].…”

“…The fine tuning of parameters and features for the flight control of an UAV is a critical task due to the non-linear aircraft characteristics [32]. Classical PID controllers have many benefits and have been used in drones with Coandȃ effect [23][24][25][26][27]. Nonetheless, the setup process of the system is pretty difficult because of the dynamics, which becomes even more complicated when they present lateral and longitudinal elements (e.g., altitude, speed and heading inputs for the elevator deflection, throttle, pitch angle/rate, aileron and roll attitude/rate outputs) [33].…”