Surrogate-assisted parametric study of a wing fence for unmanned aerial vehicles

In this paper the application of a wing fence on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is examined. The UAV under consideration is characterized by flow separation initiating at the tip, leading to a loss of lift and controllability and the appearance of a nose-up pitching moment. A possible solution to this problem is the use of wing fences: plates placed on top of the wing aligned with the flow and developed from the idea of stopping the transverse component of the boundary-layer flow. Firstly, existing theories in regard to the working of wing fences are brought together. Secondly, the sensitivity of stall speed and controllability to the design variables of the wing fence are laid bare. Finally, the aerodynamic and stability characteristics of the UAV as a function of the design variables are assessed. To accomplish the aforementioned three objectives in both an affordable and accurate manner, computational fluid dynamics simulations using the gamma -Re theta model to correctly model the low Reynolds effects that characterize the flow over a UAV and surrogate modeling in the form of regressive universal cokriging are brought together.

Jaar van publicatie:2021

Toegankelijkheid:Open