Use of XFOIL in design of camber‐controlled morphing UAVs

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The standard curriculum for Aerospace Engineering students at the University of Cincinnati includes AEEM361 Integrated Aircraft Engineering. The goal of this course is to instruct students in the tools and methodology of aircraft design. The integrated aspects of aircraft design are underscored by introducing prejunior (between sophomore and junior) students to the state-of-the-art morphing technology, inspired by bat and bird flight, which can enable an aircraft to adapt its shape to best suit the flight condition thereby enhancing mission performance. In this article, we present the development of unique software tools, which provide undergraduates an opportunity to design airfoils for morphing aircraft. Morphing is introduced in the form of "on demand" camber as well as sweep change with the aim of improving aerodynamic efficiency for a multiobjective (several design points) mission profile. The Global Hawk UAV mission in general and its LRN1015 airfoil in particular is in focus due to the relative long mission times spent at the two different flight conditions, namely high-speed dash and low-speed loiter. We are using several tools to virtually simulate a morphing wing including XFOIL to perform fast and relatively accurate two-dimensional steady-flow simulations of different morphed configurations using a camber-controlled morphed wing to maneuver. In this article we detail AeroMorph, the educational MATLAB-based tool developed for design of a camber-controlled morphing of airfoils with the aim of improving aerodynamic efficiency and exploration of the basic relationships between flap deflection and airfoil morphing based on a camber change.

A Survey of Free Software for the Design, Analysis, Modelling, and Simulation of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

“…XFOIL will then use the user data to simulate flight at many angles of attack, to return lift coefficient (C L ), drag coefficient (C D ), and moment coefficient (C M ) in the form of a saved polar file, and to generate C L versus , and C L versus C D plots. [32] XFOIL stores all its data in RAM during execution. Saving of the data to files is NOT normally performed automatically; thus the user must be careful to save work results before exiting XFOIL.…”

“…However, XFOIL works only for two dimensions and is only effective at low Reynolds numbers and incompressible flows. [32] XFOIL was used in design of camber-controlled morphing UAVs in [32]; the results are:  XFOIL follows the wind tunnel data well  XFOIL is predicting both lift and drag coefficients within an acceptable range or accuracy  XFOIL provides accurate simulation of flap addition on airfoils  XFOIL can only model plain flaps with a sealed gap Moreover, following the validation tests, a series of aerodynamic simulations using XFOIL were also performed on the LEEUAV airfoil in [131].…”

Design of an experimental twin‐rotor multi‐input multi‐output system

“…Developing an experimental system usually costs much less compared to commercially available setups, and also, it allows students and researchers gain experience in design and construction of real systems [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. According to the authors' best knowledge, there are no past works fully dedicated to design and development of a TRMS in an academic setting.…”

“…The laboratory experimental setups such as TRMS are useful as educational tools just as they are essential evaluation platforms for testing theoretical methods. Developing an experimental system usually costs much less compared to commercially available setups, and also, it allows students and researchers gain experience in design and construction of real systems . According to the authors' best knowledge, there are no past works fully dedicated to design and development of a TRMS in an academic setting.…”

A novel software framework for teaching aircraft dynamics and control

“…In Ref. , the authors detail AeroMorph, an educational MATLAB‐based tool used in an undergraduate aircraft design course to design airfoils for morphing aircraft. Flight simulation/visualization software has also been utilized for instructional purposes but have been limited to pilot training , teaching advanced graduate‐level concepts such as control system design , flight test engineering , and interdisciplinary research programs .…”